Loves of My Life #2

I love it, althought the wife'll kill me

Vista + USB + Midi + Yamaha = PITA

I spent many hours wondering why our Yamaha PSR-260 midi-capable keyboard was not recognised  when plugged into our Vista PC via a midi-USB cable. So many hours, in fact, that I returned one USB midi cable as faulty, and only when the second cable didn't work did I look elsewhere for the problem.

To cut a long story short, the Vista generic USB midi cable driver does not appear to work with this type of cable, for Yamaha keyboards at least. 

Note that some of these instructions are from memory, so might be incorrect; but you're an intelligent person - you know what to do.

 With the midi keyboard switched off, you need to do the following [I'm assuming you've plugged the midi plugs into the keyboard; make sure the cable plug marked 'IN' is plugged into the keyboard midi socket marked 'OUT', and vice versa]:

1. Download the appropriate drivers from here, and extract them. There appear to be loads of files, and I have no idea what each of them means
2. In Vista's control panel, choose Add New Hardware, and the Add New Hardware wizard pops up. Click next.
3. Choose "Install the hardware that I manually...(Advanced); Click next
4. Choose "Show all devices"; Click next
5. Click on "Have Disk", and browse to the directory you extracted the drivers to, and choose one of the .inf files there. Click OK.
   
6. The drivers should install.
   
7. That should take you to a list of manufacturers and their components. Scroll down the list of manufacturers to Yamaha Corporation, and choose "Yamaha USB Midi Driver".
8. Select it; Click on next, and follow the rest of the instructions.
9. Reboot.
10. Plug in the midi USB cable. 
11. Hopefully, your keyboard should be recognized. 

If the above doesn't work for you, I'm sorry; it's just nature's way of saying your PC hates you.

Another tool I used, which shows whether midi signals are being received or not, is Midi-ox.

Good luck.

What would Jesus do?

In Times2 on November 10 there was a description of Rowan Williams' (current Archbishop of Canterbury) experience in New York on the day of 911. The description was by Rev Fred Burnham, and Rowan Williams was "due to address 22 spiritual directors from across the US in a church-owned building next to Holy Trinity, Wall Street [New York], on “the shape of a holy life”, and reached the venue, 74 Trinity Place, at 8.35am."

As events unfolded, they and a few others eventually found themselves hiding in the basement of the building they were in, all wearing makeshift facemasks to help them breathe as the air became increasingly laden with the ash and dust of the collapsing towers. As events unfol, and it becomes more and more difficlut to breathe,

Elizabeth Koenig, a friend of Rowan who teaches at New York's General Theological Seminary, now laid a hand on the Archbishop's shoulder and said: “I can't think of anyone I'd rather die with.” At that moment Burnham felt enclosed in “a circle of love” that he would never forget.

“We were bonded for life. We became comrades in the face of death. And there was in the group a total submission and resignation to the prospect of death. No fear.”

Now, it may just be me, but I can't help but be profoundly disappointed that the head of an organisation that (a) is supposed to personify God's will and compassion on Earth and (b) supposedly isn't afraid of death chooses to avoid trying to do something to help in a crisis and instead hide in a basement while leaving the emergency services to deal with the carnage above. Did it never really occur to them that they could possibly help, even if it was only offering a few words of comfort to the injured and dying?

Not only that, but as their own situation becomes more hopeless, the wilting acceptance of their fate, instead of at least trying to find their way out of the situation struck me as utterly pathetic. Perhaps I've seen too many films where the plucky hero triumphs against overwhelming odds, but I expect a lot of the clergy, and to melt so spectacularly in the face of adversity seems rather contemptible to me.

Eventually, of course, they were saved by firemen. People put their own lives in danger to save other people because it's their job, and I doubt many of them fundamentally believe that they will go to a better place if the worst happens. 

I actually rather like Rowan Williams: he seems like a thoughtful, kind and intelligent man.  But in this particular case, his response to a pretty defining experience was - to my mind - rather spineless and self-preserving, particularly compared with the bravery and self sacrifice of the NY Emergency Services; not a great day for one of God's chief representatives on the planet.

Confessions of a Lonely Atheist

Natalie Angier writes for the New York Times. Here she describes how it feels to be an island of atheism in a sea of religiosity.

She also pulls together an interesting analysis of the statistics of professed faith, and discovers that (as usual) the public is less than scrupulously honest about what exactly they believe, more than likely a result of not actually knowing. A telling quote in the article "Survey data point to an overwhelming belief in God, but when you go down a couple of layers, it can be pretty vacuous," says Cromartie. "It's striking how many people say they're Christian but don't know who gave the Sermon on the Mount."

Confessions of a Lonely Atheist

Let's avoid an age of narrow-casting

Excellent piece by David Attenborough in the Times today. Although it's bound to be classified in the "well, he would say that, wouldn't he" box, I do happen to agree with him.

Thank God Preston's on-side, he must be thinking :-)

Let's avoid an age of narrow-casting | David Attenborough - Times Online

Prolonged Silence

I was convinced that I had lost the login details for this blog. But, leafing through the small notebook in which I (uncharacteristically organised, for me) jot down the various usernames, passwords, and other noodlings that most websites seem to need, I found them. So, here I am, lucky reader; back to waste more electrons.

Since my last post:

• Bought new HP quad core computer (Ha! For this?! No, fool, for Photoshop; loveliest program of them all)
  
• Not using Linux for the moment, but Vista (what a letdown)
• Haven't sailed since end of November (coward)
• Have completed Times cryptic crossword once, got halfway through four times, got no clues at all at least ten times (is it my brain, or the crossword, that's so variable?)
• Completed Reading Half Marathon in 1:43:30. Fell over in front of several thousand people near the end, but rewarded with a big cheer when I got up, glasses askew, blood leaking from massive elbow graze.

More anon.