iPhone 4s Tips continued

Disclaimer

Please not that the following iPhone 4s suggestions are offered in good faith and I am unable to accept responsibility for any errors or omissions that lead to any lost data or other damage.  In all instances please be sure of the accuracy of the statements before continuing with the act under consideration e.g. you could use these notes to aid an online or Apple search to find an official answer what you are trying to do.  In all instances the decision to use or otherwise act upon the commentary in this Blog is the sole responsibility of the reader.

(7) Following on from the last entry in iPhone 4s post that was about the battery.  Go to the SETTINGS App on the Home Screen of the iPhone 4s, then go to GENERAL, and then USAGE and you will find a Battery Percentage ‘on/off’ indicator.  If you select ‘on’ a ‘battery % left’ label will appear in the Header Bar adjacent to the iPhone 4s Battery Symbol.  You will no longer need to guess the amount of battery power left in the iPhone. 

It appears that the % indicator also works when charging the phone so you will be able to estimate the time left before the iPhone is fully charged or how close the iPhone is to a full battery charge if you need to disconnect the iPhone from the battery charger to go about your business sooner than later

 

More to follow; so check back and read the Weekender Blog now and again 

iPhone 4s Tips

iPhone 4s Tips

I was a tad disappointed with the iPhone manual provided in the box with the new phone, and the poor quality of the on-line material that I found when I took delivery.  All in all I was quite lost and have spoken with other users who feel the same way.  It’s as if iPhone are too cool for explanations and users are expected to be either IT savvy or have to stumble around in the mist until they work out the answers to their problems and queries.  Now and again I hope to upload a hint or two and thereby help the newcomer to the iPhone

Please not that the following items are offered in good faith and I am unable to accept responsibility for any errors or omissions that lead to any lost data or other damage.  In all instances please be sure of the accuracy of the statements before continuing with the act under consideration e.g. you could use these notes to aid an online or Apple search to find an official answer what you are trying to do

To kick the ball rolling (well its Euro 2012 after all) here is a sequence of set up tips:

(1) Before messing about with your new iPhone save your Contacts to the Orange facility online if you are lucky enough to use the Orange network or check out if your Network provider has a similar facility if you don’t use Orange.  Once the contacts are stored online, they can be downloaded to your new iPhone when that is up and running

(2) If you are thinking of saving Contacts to your SIM card and transferring them to your new iPhone that way then be careful.  The iPhone has a micro SIM Card cradle and not a full size SIM and therefore your intended SIM card transfer may be incompatible  

(3) The SIM card cradle on the iPhone is accessed by using the small metal tool housed in one of the packaging sections to press a hole in the side of the iPhone and the cradle pops out

(4) Keep the small metal iPhone SIM cradle device safe and secure as apparently they are quite expensive to replace

(5) The iPhone USB lead found inside the packaging slots into the bottom of the electrical plug that you will also find in the packaging, and the other end of that lead connects to the end of the iPhone

(6) It appears that the iPhone should be charged for circa 4 hours upon receipt. Some users say that the battery should be charged overnight; but I am yet to find the official answer for first time charging of the iPhone battery upon receipt  

More to follow; so check back and read the Weekender Blog now and again

Sports Track

Gym done, hill walk done, 30 length swim done, 10 minute sauna done. The Sports Centre is closed tomorrow for some group bonding for their team, so I'm lost. 

That is until the trainer (not a personal one as I'm too poor these days) suggested interval training.  I'm pushing on 22 stone so the word 'interval' implies 'rest'.

That sounds great; train, rest, train, rest some more, train, rest and lunch, train, sleeping rest, train, lots more rest, and so on and so forth.  Nope, apparently that's not it.  'It' in fact is more like; walk along each straight bit and jog on each curvy thing at the end of the sports track.  Ha ha ha, nope... he was serious.  Worse still, the trainer then went on to mention that maybe next week I could jog all the way around one lap of the straight and curvy bits.  To which I giggled. 

And there was me thinking that 'Sports Track' was a Scalextric thing :-(

Clever Man

I am really impressed by http://www.adriansslotcarworld.co.uk and the work that has been done to modify 1:32nd scale military figures to turn them into slot car spectators!  I have previously modified OO figures so that the chap holding the flag now looks as if he has his hand in his pocket and so on and so forth, but for the world of me, I had not thought of doing the same in 1:35th and 1:32nd scale to improve my slot car figure collection.  Brilliant idea, and one that I shall hop on the bandwagon and start replicating ASAP

Garden Shed

This is my latest scratch built model.  With Scalextric being my current trend; it follows that this is a 1:32nd Scale Garden Shed, graced on this occasion with a Slot Car Biker Figure from across The Pond.  The subtle difference between this model and my previous attempts at scratch building; is that on this model I have graduated from card and paper to plasti-card and and card.  Even though I have constructed quite a few models over the years, I have never used plasti-card.  Indeed, I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to buy the stuff in Aberystwyth, so it came as a nice surprise when I tracked some down with little effort.  I even managed to buy foam-board (another product that I had previously never used), and a bottle of glue with it's own brush for bonding the plasti-card. Yes folks, you have it in one, yet another product I had never used before.

So all in all this was a new adventure for me.  The Garden Shed is a gift for someone for his Scalextric layout of a Cornish coastal theme.  I was so pleased with the results that i have already started building a second garden shed for one of my next two layouts.  probably to sit somewhere near a farmhouse scene on the layout for the grandchildren.

The plasti-card walls had the door and window openings cut out and were then glued together using the specialist glue.  When dry the four walls were glued around a foam-board base using PVA and again allowed to dry.  0.5cm strips of a birthday card were cut and glued to the plasti-card using PVA on the plasti-card and the edge of each card strip to build up the plank pattern.  Three strips card cut to 0.5cm width were glued together using PVA to make a thicker card strip and when dry this strip was cut to size to fit the width of the shed and glued underneath to form 'timber' supports for the shed floor to raise it off the ground.  When my second version of this model is finally placed on a layout it will rest on Hornby or similar coloured stone used to form a 'hard standing' for the shed and then the raised platform for the shed floor should look quite good

The plasti-card shed door is held in position by a piece of scored card that is glued to the back of the door and the inside of the shed.  When the glue was dry the model was primed with Halfords grey plastic primer.  The model was then painted with Tamiya acrylics.

The roof is removable and this was formed using several layers of card, reinforced card edges and my special effects felt roofing material.  The super detailing inside the shed includes a work bench, a piece of glazing, a tool box and assorted debris.  The window section is made up from a piece of card with the glazed area 4mm narrower than the opening in the shed wall and this was painted brown prior to adding the glazing.  The acetate glazing was cut to size and glued to the window section piece of card using PVA.  When dry the window section was glued to the inside of the shed wall using PVA.

The 1:32nd scale Biker Figure is movable and could be interchanged due to the detachable shed roof.

Queen’s Jubilee Celebration

As a long standing and committed Royalist I must take this opportunity to wish everyone (especially Her Majesty the Queen) a happy and delightful Queen’s Jubilee Celebration :-)

 

The bunting is due to go up tomorrow and wifey has already worn her Jubilee Celebration hat to work. Well done bless her (wifey that is), and well done to Her Majesty the Queen on both a good innings as our Sovereign, and for doing a blinking good job to boot.  

Olympic Flame

"Go on officer, please give me a light".  Well done to all of those that ran with the Olympic flame from Aberystwyth.  I dragged myself out of bed nice and early and was met with a pleasant surprise.  The position that I took along the promenade was exactly where four friends were stood and none of them are connected to one another! So I had a nice chat here and there, but had to keep apologising as I turned to the next person to chat to.  What a lovely start to what turned out to be a lovely day.  Made a little bit better with my Canon 600D and it's tilt screen that allowed me to hold the camera at extended arm height and shoot some shots from above the crowd.

Now don't get me wrong; I'm not a 100% happy as Lord Thingy and Boris messed up the 2012 Olympics for me and it might as well have been on another Continent.  That is until the flame came to Aberystwyth. When I say 'messed up' I don't mean that they went out of their way to nobble me.  Mind you, it does feel like that when our multiple bids for 5 family members materialised into 2 boxing tickets.  You don't have to be a maths genius to know that 5 into 2 doesn't exactly go, and I don't go to the Olympics either.  So it's a good job that Boris got re-elected and the Olympics came to Victoria Terrace in Abersytwyth on a lovely sunny day.  I waited for ages for the above shot while leaning to support my 300mm zoom lens.  I knew that if a few people moved out of shot and the torch carrier turned towards the policeman; then there was room for a caption, e.g. the one above or even "go on, tell us the way". 

My highlight of the day was taking a photograph of 'The Sun' photographer, taking a photograph of a policewoman and the above torch carrier.  Everyone expected it to make 'The Sun' tomorrow, but once the torch bearer got invited to sit on the Police bike, it was down hill for any other likely photographs.  The good news is; I may not be at the Olympics this time around, but at least I now have a little bit of the Olympic fever. Oh, unless of course Boris or the Lord want to send some free tickets my way?  You can find me on Facebook, I'm the Roger Bennett (AKA Lord Crindau) with the dark photograph holding a pint of beer. 

The reference to Lord Crindau being how someone addressed me in London over the weekend. "Well", he said, "I never thought that I would meet Lord Crindau".  Nice one matey, I thoroughly enjoyed that comment and it was nice to meet someone from St Julians in Newport South Wales.

Olympics

My Olympic money was here,

But now it’s gone,

For what and when I don’t know,

But for others there is none.

Oh London 2012,

You confused me with your ruse,

Not to sell the tickets,

Even to your muse.

I thought it was a celebration,

Chance to see the best,

Let’s hope there’s no black market,

But bidding like the rest.

Track, field or equestrian,

The system doesn’t say

My mind was blank,

But yet you made me pay.

How I longed to be there for you, 

At this feast of sport,

But now watching television,

I shan’t be your cohort.

Roger Bennett (all rights reserved)

Ford GT40 at Monaco

Another YouTube Video of the Monaco Themed Scalextric Layout that I built. This time with wifey driving a Ford GT40 and a nice view of the bench made out of card and stuck down onto a metal base so that the magnetic biker figures from the States stand up nicely when posed in front of the bench.  I am particularly proud of the bench model as it is all made out of card and each of the slots in the concrete ends that house the planks were cut with one go only and through thick card to boot! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kubNgU1dYQ

Monaco Themed compact Scalextric layout

A video has now been uploaded to my Facebook and Youtube pages showing the compact Monaco Themed Scalextric Slot Car Layout that has taken in excess of 300 hours to scratchbuild over the last two years.  It sounds a lot; but really it's a bit of time here and there.  The layout was a gift for a good friend of mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61Xp7QtRYeQ&feature=youtu.be

The yacht was a rebuild from a wrecked hull and includes matchsticks with two holes drilled through them inserted into cut ice cream tub plastic and both components glued into holes drilled into the decking.  The barrier edge is a long piece of picture frame wire that has been unthreaded into a single strand and then pushed through the holes in the matchsticks.  Nearly all of the items on the Monaco Themed Scalextric Slot Car layout are scratchbuilt from card.  Usually the type of card that you find on the back of writing pads.  PVA is the main glue, but there is some contact adhesive to stick down some of the figures.  Other figures are magnetic based and these stand on strategically placed metal washers or strips of metal that are glued into position around the layout.

The video was shot by yours truly while the speeding car is driven by wifey

Scalextric Vanwall and NINCO Lexus

An enjoyable part of the Scalextric layout construction and scenery and building model making is the photography.  This image of a HORNBY Hobbies Ltd (Scalextric) Vanwall MM/C/87 Number 1 was taken using the monochrome setting on a Canon 600D Digital SLR using a f1.8 50mm prime lens.  

This image of a modified NINCO Lexus 430c gt500 with slot it alloys and older nc2 motor was also taken on the 600D but on this occasion using the 50mm prime lens with the camera set on landscape mode and a table lamp housing a daylight bulb just above and to the right hand side of the scene.

Questions and Models

I have added a new Question to the 'Question' tab, and some text and an image to the 'Models' tab. 

I have an awful lot of questions at the moment and not all of them are being answered.  They certainly cannot all be uploaded here, which is a shame really, as a burden shared is a burden halved.  Maybe this is why I have been so immersed in the model making.  Vigorously building this or that out of card, plastic, sand, and glue.

Activities keep the mind busy and deflect attention away from the unwelcome thoughts that so often intrude upon us.  I have a very good friend who is suffering badly with mental ill health at the moment. I can't really say to him; "I know how you feel".  The comment would be inappropriate as the bottom line is with these invisible illnesses; none of us know how another person is coping or the impact or events that pushed them into where they now find themselves.  All we can do is to be there to support our friends in whatever way is relevant to the circumstances.  For that reason I would like to thank those that from time to time, support me.  One thing that I have noticed about the dark days is that you can inadvertently let your friends slip by.  With that in mind it was lovely to hear from Simon the other evening.  Good friends keep in touch and don't have a balancing of the books system.  It doesn't matter if the other person has been silent, they still pick up and try.  It was nice to catch up with Simon so I shall now try to meet up with another friend called Adam. 

I shall also continue to ring the various telephone numbers of someone else and hope that at some point he picks up as well.  Yes it can be dark, but it doesn't have to be lonely.

Claire Squires' Just Giving Page

The Claire Squires story is heartbreaking. Her brother died young and Claire was doing her bit to raise money for the Samaritans when she passed away towards the end of the 2012 London Marathon aged only 30. Claire had intended to raise £500 for the Samaritans and the flood of donations since her untimely death has pushed that amount to almost £500,000 at the time of writing. I suspect that I am not alone in hoping that the Samaritans set up a Trust Fund in Claire’s memory so that her contribution is still helping the charity in 30 years time rather than the monies being absorbed as a windfall now. It would be nice to see a lasting legacy from a person who understood that we are all on this earth for what we do for others. That would mean that Claire’s early death is not totally in vain and her family and close friends can take some comfort from the positive outcomes for Claire’s chosen charity the Samaritans. So why not track down the Claire Squires ‘just giving’ page linked to the Samaritans and send off a few pounds as well. Many of us are, or have been effected by mental ill health and those who are not, probably know at least two or three persons who have suffered a mental health setback in their life. Claire ran the Marathon and tried to raise money for a charity that is close to many people’s heart. I have rung the Samaritans once in my life, and it’s nice to know that when you need someone to talk to, there are systems in place that can help others when they need that help the most. I gave the few pounds left in my Paypal account. It's no big shakes as it was only a small amount. But if lots of people do the same then it all adds up.

I had a social network message off a friend yesterday asking about the snow.

“What snow?” thought me, until I stepped out into the freezing cold arctic conditions and above the village could see the 'white of those hills there yonder'. Now that what comes of being ill; you lose track of what's happening around you. Well that’s not strictly true as you may acquire a better understanding of what’s going on in the wider world through television and the internet. But I’m writing about that bubble around your personal space and the interaction between the person and their community and the local environment.

I could have sworn that when I last went outside I was wearing shorts and sandals and Mr Tister and I were enjoying an ice cream on the promenade. But then again I was just jabbering away to two family members, before I realised that they weren’t in the house!

The other clarification means that we have to return to the ice cream story. You see, Mr Tister was enjoying the frothy cone, but I was just looking on longingly and wondering if my pension could stretch to getting myself one, given the Government’s hike in taxation and the zero annual occupational pension increase that is currently my lot.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate getting a pension, and I also understand that if I had left in 2005 when I pleaded to go, then it would probably be a lot less. But ‘no increase’ every year doesn’t mean ‘no pay rise’, it means a pay loss. Not even a ‘pay freeze’ because while the pension hasn’t gone up, the actual cost of living seems to increase exponentially and those increases seems to occur monthly.

Strategy and not Tactics

Can someone please start teaching the Apprentices the difference between Tactics and Strategy before the programme airs each Season. Maybe it could be part of the introduction and health and safety package.

And while we are at it, could someone check out the behind the scenes footage before the FIRING. You know the sort of thing “I wasn’t too impressed by your behaviour when you done so and so and for that reason you are fired”. Because in the real world people are more often than not pushed out for what they say, do, stand for, rather than for failing a task or being a pivotal part of that task failure.

Remember Trayvon Martin

Remember Trayvon Martin the lad going about his lawful business. Trayvon was carrying sweets and a soft drink for his brother.

It’s not a Black and White thing, it’s a right and wrong thing.

In an ideal world young Trayvon wouldn’t have died. But the world we live in isn’t an ideal world. So let’s hope that his untimely and unnecessary death has a significant and long lasting impact on the United States of America. The world leader in many issues and yet a third world country in many respects especially those concerning ethnicity. God Bless America and let’s pray for Trayvon, and also pray for his family and friends who now suffer his departure.