January 2009 Archives
In October 2007, the Taiwanese computer firm Asus started a revolution with the launch of a tiny new laptop the EEEpc. This boasted a seven inch screen and a fancy solid state hard drive and ran on a modified version of the free Linux operating system and sold for around £200. The first model flew of the shelves worldwide. Asus struggled to keep up with demand and began to produce further versions boasting nine-inch screens and the Windpws XP operating system.
The processor maker Intel launched its Atom processor in June 2008 to improve the performance of these small cheap computers. Big computer companies like Dell, MSI and Acer began to bring out their own netbooks. Typically they have smaller hard drives, ten-inch or smaller screens and run bespoke versions of Linux or Windows XP. The launch of these machines has given a new lease of life to XP as they are not powerful enough to run the resource hungry Windows Vista.
In comparison to a regular laptop, it is a pleasure to carry one of these devices around. They are all wireless enabled and allow internet access almost anywhere. If coupled with a 3G USB mobile broadband dongle you can get a clear signal everywhere you can talk on your mobile phone. They all weigh less than a kilogram and can be slipped into almost any bag. The best designed ones have a good keyboard and reasonable battery life.
I have been using an Advent 4211 from Currys for the past six months or so. It has a clear ten-inch screen and enough space on the hard drive for all my photographs and articles for the Carrick Biz.. It’s certainly not powerful enough for cutting edge computer gaming or video editing but great for taking anywhere, storing mp3 music collections and basic office functions and web browsing.
I have to say that this wee machine is a joy to use and is available for around £250. The Advent is a Currys ownbrand version of the highly regarded MSI Wind with the advantage that it’s a good fifty quid cheaper. Fair play to Asus for coming up with the idea. For many people one of these cheap, small PCs will probably be all you’ll need.
If things had turned out a little bit differently a few weeks ago, you could have already read the last ever Kerr's Corner last month. On the Sunday before Christmas, I had just returned home from a pleasant weekend in a Co Down cottage with members of my wider family.
Checking on my two cats, I realised that they were a bit low on litter and food, so I thought that I would nip down quickly to the local Co-op and stock up before they closed. I was due to read one of the lessons in a carol service later in the evening, so I decided to take the bike rather than walk to the shop. Big mistake!
It wasn't quite dark, but I nevertheless put on my lights. I made a successful right turn from Lawnbrook Avenue on to the main Shankill Road. However, the pelican crossing below the junction of the Shankill Road, Lawnbrook Avenue and Tennent Street had turned to red, stopping all cars coming up the road. The driver of a small hatchback car wanting to turn right up the Shankill saw his opportunity to get out quickly. Unfortunately he didn't see me!
The old cliché about time seeming to stand still in such situations really does prove to be true. The car driver didn't see me but I saw him. The street I had come out from isn't quite opposite the car driver's street. It is offset by a few metres so I had already straightened up but not full turned my head forward. I realised that the car driver was still coming out. He hadn't seen me. He was going to hit me.
I have been cycling back and forward to work for more than 25 years but never been in this kind of accident before. It was truly terrifying, yet in the strange slow motion world around me I still had the presence of mind to kick the bike away, roll and hope for the best.
The bike went under the wheels of the car. I rolled over the bonnet and ended up on the road. As the pelican crossing was still red, no other vehicles had the opportunity to run over me as I lay there. I was down but not out: a bit bruised and battered but able to stand and hobble home in need of a good cup of tea.
This could have been a lot nastier. I was wearing a good stout pair of boots. Had I been wearing trainers instead, I expect I'd have broken my ankle. Even worse, it could have been me under the wheels or a following car could have finished me off. Providentially I am still here to tell the tale and I did manage to get to the church in time to read that lesson.
Malice? Malice? Who the...?
St Matthew's church hall on the Shankill Road was packed to the rafters for the Shankill Players' third annual pantomime, Sleeping Beauty. This wonderful script from Mark McClean featured a guest appearance from the little known boy band Take This, an outing from the ghostbusters and some outrageous ad-libs. I got a strong impression that the Players are unhappy at being largely ignored by their own local paper but was surprised and delighted when the pantomime dame gave your own Carrick Biz a favourable plug.
The players struggled for a bit against a hired sound system that seemed to have a mind of its own. When they realised that this was going to be a losing battle they just put more effort into their performances. It was a reasonably small hall and not too difficult to hear everything from my seat near the back.
The Shankill Players just get better and better. The sets have improved. The costumes are dazzling and the script is electric. For such a small amateur dramatic group this is quite an achievement.
For me, the show was stolen by Nichola Price, a new member of the players. She excelled as Malice, the petulant evil fairy who took vengeance on the Sleeping Beauty because she hadn't been invited to a royal birthday party. Mark McClean camped things up in high style as the pantomime dame, Molly Coddle. Lynda Hastings kept the audience participation up to speed as Jack and Julie-Ann McMillan provided comic relief as the cook.
A neighbour of mine took her seven-year-old daughter to see this show the next night: the child's first ever panto. She loved every minute of it; booing the villainous Malice, cheering on the handsome prince and grabbing out for the sweeties distributed to younger members of the audience by Molly. Long may such productions continue and long may the Shankill Players prosper. Let's hope they can afford their own sound system in time for their next production.
