Finally finished the two projects. The Liverpool Scottish are in the process of moving their domain to the new site and the Wrecks of Liverpool is completed, at least as an application. It is currently running on a WAMP on my laptop. The main problem with the Wrecks project is the copyright of the actual wreck records is unclear and publishing the 500+ images has been embargoed by the museum that holds them. However all is not lost, I now work as a volunteer at the Museum of Liverpool and they are interested in including the wrecks in an interactive visual display in the museum. Imagine google map on a wall and you get the idea.
I demonstrated the work so far and will be having a further meeting soon on how best to proceed. As the Museum of Liverpool and the Maritime Museum are the same organization displaying the images of the records as part of a display should be OK. There needs to be more research in the actual history of the ships but that could take some time and could be on going.
Well since my last post work has progressed. A change encounter in January has changed some of the priorities as I now work as a volunteer one day a week at the Museum of Liverpool on the King’s Regiment Collection. This has forced me to organize my time more effectively and changed a few of my priorities.
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Well where are we? I have two projects on the go at the moment the Liverpool Bay and bringing the website of the Liverpool Scottish TA regiment up to date. An informal meeting just before Christmas at the Research Society discussed what happens next year. So read on …
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A look at the first seven plots used as a demonstrator and what they already have shown and a progress report on the scanning and some of the issues raised.
A day after my last post I uploaded a very crude demonstration of how Googlemaps could be used to show spacial information. The original proof of concept had used some imaginary test data, the SS Lollipop carrying a cargo of sweets was one. However I was concerned about the accuracy of the plots and therefore how useful overlaying the locations on Google maps would be. With these concerns in mind I decided to use the first seven records scanned as an experiment. The results of just these seven reveal some surprising historic facts on how the coastline has changed overtime and resolved a (very) minor mystery.
We also look at some technical problems of scanning and some political ones as well.
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For the discerning amongst you it is noticeable that the site has been in hibernation since in the summer of 2009. The plans of mice and men…. Basically my degree took, if not too much time, too much energy, the idea of writing for the site as well as my degree was just a page too far.
But time moves on and the wheel of life returns to the beginning … and all that stuff. So what now?
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I had the central idea for this article and wrote the core of it some years ago and have been developing the idea ever since. I find the idea useful when reading or listening to someone I disagree with, essentially it uses the physical moon as an analogy for the ‘Truth’ and how different viewpoints while not necessarily changing my own position on an issue can provide a richer understanding of it. All this may sound a bit meta-physical but my recent sojourn into academia has highlighted the variety of viewpoints on any subject. Furthermore, this semester I am taking a module on Contemporary Security Studies, this is due to the limits of choice, my others are all firmly based in Military History. However in Contemporary Security Studies, ‘Truth’ is a even more ephemeral subject than in post-modernist history. Take for example, Terrorism versus Freedom-fighters, Weapons of Mass Destruction versus legitimate defences, one can see how the same issue can have different ‘truths’ for different people. After some initial subject reading, this article is essentially written as a rant and to formalise my own thoughts in preparation for the up coming academic year. Read more »
The progress of firearms during the 19th Century has been long understood and accepted. The Napoleonic short ranged, inaccurate, smooth bored musket gave way, first to the rifle musket then the breech-loader, before reaching the pinnacle of the magazine bolt actioned rifles, such as the Short Magazine Lee Enfield. This continuous development of range and accuracy forced the parallel development of field fortifications resulting in the ‘hell on earth’ of the trench warfare in 1914-18. A seminal example of this development was the American Civil War, troops fighting with rifled weapons capable of ranges of over 1000 yards using Napoleonic tactics, more suited to the short ranges of the 18th Century, which lead inevitably to massive casualties of Pickett’s Charge and the like. In a direct response to these losses, armies developed the field fortifications of the later war, cumulating in the siege of Petersburg. This article will discuss an alternative view first offered by Paddy Griffith in 1986, developed by Brent Nosworthy and a current assessment of this view point provided by Earl J. Hess. Read more »
I was talking last night in the pub to my friend Ian about the site and its development. I have some plans about the changes I want to do, but plan to do them slowly as I can learn and understand what those change mean and can then put them on this diary.
One of the planned changes was to add one of those little icons that show up in the address line and on your bookmarks. Ian told me it was called a Favicon and that as browsers cache this info when a site is bookmarked then I needed to make the change now or nobody would see it!
As I already had an image I wanted to use I set about the job this morning. First problem was the image did not transfer very well to being only 16×16 pixels, it was too detailed. The image was of a 15th century capital T with all that fancy leaf work,so I had to simplify it not a pretty image at full scale but not too bad when reduced to icon size.
I then had a quick look via google to find out how to install it and found this entry here so that was easy enough, I edited my test site (on a USB stick) and tested it. Spend more time finding out how to un-cashe the old site from my browser so I could see the change. Then uploaded the new header and icon file. Bobs you uncle site has a new favicon.
Welcome,
If you have read the editorial you will see why I have been moved to create this site. This series of posts will act as a journal of my journey no the development of this site. The site is starting at a very simple level and will develop in sophistication, I hope, over time.
While I was an IT professional my background is in large corporate databases and severs not in the technologies and techniques of web design. Hopefully my experience of IT will allow me to avoid too many errors but my lack of web based knowledge will allow non-IT readers to understand and appreciate how a site such as this may be built. That said what am I doing to site site at the moment? Read more »
Guilt is a difficult word to define, we tend to ascribe more guilt depending on the consequences of an action, rather than focus on the actual actions of the participates. The point of this article is to argue that Austro-Hungarian declaration and subsequent invasion of Serbia did not inevitably lead to the First World War, and their actions were constant with similar events which did and do not attract the burden of guilt that the events of July 1914 attract. The article will focus on the actions and intentions of the various participates and whether those actions could be considered reasonable at the time, rather than consider the catastrophic results of those actions. Read more »
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