Carving
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- Published on 28 July 2017
- Written by Duncan
- Hits: 720
I've liked to work with wood for a long time. I think my father got me started when he got me some hand tools. When I was at school, I took woodworking class there. I had some good teachers, and looking back I can see how much of their teaching stayed with me.
I find it like some kind of meditation. Some people do knitting, and I like to create something out of wood. I've made lots of things from furniture to small carvings. Wood is from nature. and I like to hold a piece of wood in my hand and imagine what I can make it into. I will take a board of wood and plane it and sand it smooth. From there I might make it into a box.
Anybody There?
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- Published on 05 July 2017
- Written by Duncan
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"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
I often wonder if any humans visit these pages any more. Years ago, there were many who would drop by and read the articles. Some would comment with their feedback. These days I moderate comments, because they are more likely to be comment-bots that like to spam blogs with links to porn sites etc.
A lot of the visitors are bots. You get the friendly ones, like google and bing. You get a bunch of evil ones, that are probing for opportunities to exploit. The evil ones will try to destroy what is here and deface it with their junk. They get to score points for their hacking teams, viewed on online hacker scoreboards. Destruction has become a game for bored teenagers in countries like Turkey and Russia.
Dreams Change
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- Published on 04 July 2017
- Written by Duncan
- Hits: 718
It has been a long time since I posted anything here. My analytics suggest that some people still visit to read an article or two. I started Big Dreams over 20 years ago. I know that because I have some web archives going back to 1994, which is a long time. (Find the way back machine, then search for Big Dreams) But in the last few years, my focus and energies have been elsewhere. It's not that I abandoned Big Dreams, but you only have so much time in the day. As you put time into one thing it closes off the chances of doing another.
Winter Flu
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- Published on 09 March 2014
- Written by Duncan
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I’ve been suffering from a bad cold, which followed a bad flu and several other illnesses. It seems like most of the winter went by with me struggling to function while under attack by various viruses. I don’t know if I am just more prone to illness these days, perhaps my age is a factor? I know many other people who are also sick, so I wonder if there is some especially strong virus strain that is going around the world this year. It seems that having taken the flu shot has done me no good.
Editor's Column
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- Published on 05 March 2013
- Written by Duncan
- Hits: 3630
Hello again,
Hope you are doing well with 2013, and the year of the snake. We have already had the Western new year, the Chinese new year, and this month we get the Persian new year. So the year is well and truly begun. I recently upgraded this site from Joomla 1.5 to 2.5, it seems like it never ends. I have to keep up with the newer versions, which include improved security that thwarts some of the hackers and their exploits. It is never foolproof, as I have long ago learned. These days I just keep backups for when I need them. Trying to hunt down any malicious code and clean it out is usually impossible, and a restore from a recent backup is the easiest solution.
Editor's Column
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- Published on 27 February 2011
- Written by Duncan
- Hits: 8126
Hello again, and welcome to Big Dreams. I hope you are doing well this year, this month, as you read this article. I just upgraded from Joomla version 1.x to 1.5, and it took some time to get it all working again. I managed to migrate the content over, no trouble, but the comments didn't make it. I am not too worried. It means the slate is wiped clean, and ready for you to add new comments. Today's column is on working less and living a more balanced life.
July 4th Paddle
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- Published on 08 July 2009
- Written by Duncan
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On Saturday July 4th we were in Birch Bay, and decided to go for a paddle in the afternoon. We had to wait until the tide was in, since the bay is a shallow bay. When the tide is out, it goes a long way out. At low tide it is better to go digging for clams rather than trying to paddle.
Cycling Barnston Island
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- Published on 30 June 2009
- Written by Duncan
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This Saturday we went to Barnston Island for a bike ride. The island is located in the Fraser river, just north of Surrey and south of the Pitt Meadows airport. You have to take your bikes over a small ferry to get to and from the island. The route around the island is about 10 km.