Barney Wol’s Home


A Barn Owl...		...and a Barney Wol!

This (on the right!) is a recent picture of me so you can put a face to these ramblings! It was taken in January 2008, after I had been re-growing my beard for a month. (This is what I looked like without it in July 2007!) The previous picture I used was taken in mid-May 2001 when I visited Exbury Gardens in Hampshire (England) - down near Hythe and Fawley on the South Coast. They have a fantastic collection of Azaleas, Rhododendrons, and Camellias, and the banks of colour are a real joy at that time of year after a long bleak winter. Directions for how to get there, including GPS derived waypoint co-ordinates, are on this page.

Most people have a love for small cuddly animals, and I am no different. Owls are my passion (or "Wols", as per the dyslexic owl in A.A.Milne's "Winnie the Pooh"!). Hence my pseudonym - "Barney Wol"!

On these pages I have put together some information on things I am interested in, and which I hope will be of use to others:

	Calendars Large, almost full screen, calendars, one for each month of the years 1998 to 2012, created entirely in HTML. They are arranged with the weeks running from Saturday through to Friday, as per the TV listings guides, and show week numbers, Bank Holidays, British Summer Time start and end dates, and phases of the moon.
	Time, and Timecode Dates of the Summer Time changes, why we have leap-seconds, and information about television time code. The IERS have just announced that there will be no leap-second at the end of June this year, but their predictions currently show that it is possible there will be one at the end of December. (The last leap-second was on December 31st 2005). (Also information about the MSF and LORAN transmitters moving to Anthorn.)
	Video test patterns for Richard Russell's test card generator Richard Russell has produced a small, reprogrammable, colour television test card generator, capable of all common line standards. In this section I have provided some alternative test patterns that may be of use. As well as 16:9 test cards (full height, and letterboxed), there is a 4:3 safe title area mask, and various standard test signals, including one that produces a 1000c/s audio tone!
	Video Test Signals I have previously worked with BBC Research Department on both the normal and widescreen Test Cards. This page has details of the features of these test patterns, and also includes scans and information about the original Test Card "F"!
	Webcams There are an increasing number of live webcams around the world. The BBC in England have made some of their roof weather cameras available (at reduced resolution) on the web, as well as having links to many of the Police traffic cameras. I have linked directly to a few of the cameras on this page, together with links to other more comprehensive lists. (The image on the left here is the BBC's Central London weather camera live, often with the BT Tower in view, and, if you're watching at the right time, with London local forecaster Peter Cockroft!)
	Links to other web pages In here are links to other web sites that may be of interest (including those for downloading the encryption software PGP), while on separate pages are the source addresses for many of the Macintosh utilities and shareware applications I find invaluable, and the home pages of friends and colleagues. (Recently updated with links to Geocacheing and petrol-price websites, and you’ve got to see these nutters playing with jet engines!)