Delphi XE on Windows 8

I was moving my Delphi XE installation from a Windows 7 laptop to a Windows 8 desktop when I discovered that the RSS Feed Utility I wrote woudln't compile under Windows 8.  Eventually, I traced it to a function I copied and pasted from somewhere which allowed me to download a file from a URL.  I had thought the error was from importing an Active X component which I noted two years ago.  Looks like Delphi-zine is no longer around.  I hope that isn't a sign that Delphi is fading.  So, the web references I used were saved as PDF so I would have them in the future.
 
A year ago, I added the function to download from a URL as we had to host the RSS feed on a different server and I could no longer use FTP.  A Google search "delphi download file from url" led to this from StackOverflow.com.  I used the second answer that used an API call.  I had to figure out how to use that API call (needed to make sure the WinINet unit was included in my uses clause).  I also had to PChar() the URL which was stored in a string variable.

Now, as I was trying to figure this out, I thought the problem was Delphi XE didn't work well with Windows 8, so I was installing RAD Studio XE3.  When I tried to compile the fixed Delphi XE project with Delphi XE3, it gave me compile errors on the Active X control.  That I couldn't figure out (yet).  One step forward, two steps back.  Sigh.

Spring-like day in December!

It was above freezing last night!  Quite a refreshing break from winter weather as the solstice approaches and I look forward to lengthening daylight again.  The system map (2:00 PM) says it all.  The jetstream is arcing nicely over Saskatoon (wish it was even further north).  One more day of above freezing tomorrow and then above average temperatures stay.

GFA Missionary Package Arrived Yesterday

I received my Gospel for Asia missionary package yesterday.  I am sponsoring a women missionary who is from Odisha and grew up as a Hindu.  She is working in the Bihar region of India.  My younger son really likes watching Veil of Tears.  He watched some of it again today.  I have to say, I'm very impressed with Gospel for Asia because they really do put Jesus First.

The coldest day of 2014 in Saskatoon (so far)

This guy ran to hide behind the pile of snow as I was driving up to the driveway today.  It was the coldest day of the year so far at -30°C in the morning.  It's hard to believe there was NO snow on November 21 and it was raining!  The next day, the dump of snow began. and more followed throughout the week.

Mozart's Last Piano Concerto

I've been  reacquainting myself with Annie Fischer's Mozart Piano Concerto recordings this past month.  After listening to K P Yohannan's messages these last two weeks, it seemed to me that the Larghetto from Mozart's final piano concerto reflects the brokeness that Brother KP talks about that drew him to the Road to Reality.  It happens that KV 595 is also one of two Mozart piano concertos that Murray Perahia rerecorded with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.  He also made a DVD of the performance.  Murray Perahia also adds quite a bit of ornamentation in his playing whereas Annie Fischer  plays what is written in the score (that was the tradition back in 1959),  KV 595 was Clifford Curzon's favorite Mozart Piano Concerto.  He made several recordings of it for Decca, but only authorised the release of the recording he made with Benjamin Britten.  Curzon also adds some ornamentation in his playing too. They are all recordings I treasure of Mozart's most poignant piano concerto IMHO.  Benjamin Britten made a recording of Mozart's Prague Symphony which I just love, but I only have it as a London LP.  Tis the season for Mozart it seems for me, my first love in classical music.

Annie Fischer was born in 1914

I didn't realise Annie Fischer was born 100 years ago.  I really admire her in the way I admire Clara Haskil, Géza Anda, Murray Perahia, Leon Fleischer, Maurizio Pollini and Stephen Kovacevich.  As an undergrad in Toronto, I bought every Mozart piano concerto CD that she recorded for EMI (KV 466, 467, 482, 488, 491 and 595).  She plays Busoni's cadenza in KV 482 and it's really out there in comparison to Géza Anda's tasteful cadenzas.  I really love how she plays this concerto (Mozart's longest piano concerto I believe).  The passage work is so clean and she doesn't play 'dainty' Mozart.  It is quite a contrast to Wilhelm Kempff's recording from 1982 (when he was well into his 80s).  I like that recording too, but I think Kempff's age kept him from playing it so fast and fluid like Annie Fischer did in 1959 with the Philharmonia.  In grad school, my Hungarian colleague bought two Hungaraton CDs for me on a trip back to his homeland.  One was a Mozart concerto disk (KV 456 and 466) and the other was Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto with some Mozart and Schubert solo fillers. I finally cracked open this 2 CD set.  I listened to Opus 111 first and yes, it's a winner for me.  I'm putting together an Annie Fischer MP3 CD for my car.  Brava!

A fine fall omega block will mean a glorious week

This is why we're going to have a beautiful week in Saskatoon this week.  It's the classic omega block that arcs the jetstream north of Saskatoon.  With the clockwise rotation of the high pressure system, we'll get nice warm air pumped up from the American midwest.

Our driveway is also getting mudjacked by Superior Slabjacking today.  It was great they could get the job done today!

Thanksgiving 2014

I was sent an email from BibleGateway today which was from Gospel for Asia.  I recalled that they sent me a book a few years ago.  I found it in the basement and saw that it was from 2004 - they sent me Revolution in World Missions back then.  They have some free resources here.  I also put some here.  Anyways, I decided to sponsor a girl in India.  GFA puts 100% of my donation to the child I sponsor, so it's quite an impressive record.  I sponsor a boy in Nicaragua through World Vision too.

We had a turkey lunch today.  Much to give thanks for!

Harvest Sunday 2014

It has been just beautiful the past week.  Above normal temperatures make for a pleasant fall.  The 1/2 split at Lakeridge School were given some plants last spring and we actually got some tomatoes from the two plants.  Our last Russian mammoth sunflower is starting to bloom as well.  The largest head I cut off was rotting when I cut it off.  The seeds from a second head are harvested and a third head is still out to dry.  I gave the neighbour a fourth head.

A glorious start to Thanksgiving Weekend

What a beautiful fall day.  It's not an omega block, but it was sunny and warm today.  And, it's going to be a great weekend too.

edX Design and Development of Educational Technology started yesterday

This interesting course started yesterday. The course syllabus can give you an overview of what this course is about as well as the intro video:

Recovering from a lost password

For some reason, a Dell Windows 7 Pro laptop 'forgot' its password.  I took the hard drive out and recovered the data to an external hard drive and a DVD.  I had to connect this laptop hard drive to one of my desktop computers to do that.

I tried a system restore back from the boot menu, but that didn't work either.  So, I tried to reinstall Windows 7 Pro by using my DVD.  Didn't work.

Next, I used a Dell Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit DVD to install the OS successfully.  I then got the driver for the network and downloaded the Dell utility to create restore disks.  That process is going on right now.  I hope to use the restore disks to make the hard drive 'factory fresh' with Windows 7 Pro again.

This is why one must not use an administrator account to do daily work.  If this password was corrupted on a standard user, the problem could have been easily fixed by using the admin account to reset the password of the standard account.

Instead, this is turning into a multi-hour saga ...

Almost two full weeks of glorious weather

The omega block is weakening as the high pressure system that was over Chicago has moved east.  Sigh.  It was a beautiful day again and yesterday was a perfect day for the Terry Fox Walk at Aden Bowman.  The sunflowers grew quite a lot this past week.  Unfortunately, that is not going to continue with cooler weather.  Hopefully, I will be able to harvest 3 more heads the next few weeks.  Not ideal growing conditions at all.

The last day of summer is Michael Faraday's birthday this year

The omega block is staying put and it was 28°C today.  This is also the day Michael Faraday was born in 1791.  This is the IET (formerly IEE) Faraday bio webpage I read almost twenty years ago.

A glorious day thanks to the Omega Block

It's been nice all week and it's thanks to where the jetstream is.  I love it when we have days like this thanks to an omega block.  Clear skies and counter clockwise cycling of warm air from the south make for above average fall weather.

This makes for great sunflower weather too.

And, I saw this face in the sky as the sun was setting:

Tomorrow is Michael Faraday's birthday and the fall equinox.  The days are getting shorter.  Sigh.

My first Tableau Public

Learn About Tableau

I got this data from StatsCan and had to clean it up (data here).  I added the first 3 digits of the city postal codes as Tableau Public couldn't seem to figure it out from the city names.  It still didn't recognise the postal codes because it defaulted it to USA, not Canada:

Click on unknown in the corner

Edit the locations

Change country from USA to Canada

Happy Birthday Valerie Tryon

Half a decade ago, I came across Valerie Tryon's CBC CD of Chopin's Scherzi and Ballades in the cutout bin at L'Atelier Grigorian in Oakville (I went there this past summer and they are now closed!).  From then on, I was hooked.  I subsequently bought her APR CD with my favorite solo piano work (Schumann's Fantasie).  This was followed by her 3 CD Chopin a Chronological Journey.  I listen to the third CD in this set quite often (Third Piano Sonata, Barcorolle, a Nocturne).  Then I got the APR CD of two of my favorite Mozart Concerti (KV 491 and KV 503).  She plays Godowsky's candenza in KV 491, but also supplies a track with Hummel's cadenza (which Annie Fischer played in her EMI recording from 1959).  Very enjoyable and a source of much pleasure over the years.  I bought 3 more APR CDs from Presto Classical this week as a birthday present for myself  (Mendelssohn and Ravel).

Well, Valerie Tryon is 80 years old today.  It is amazing how solid her technique is, but she is truly an artist.  There was this recent article in the Hamilton Spectator about her.  She also helped a fellow pianist as noted in this Ottawa Citizen article.  Enjoy this interview from Youtube.  Many happy returns to you Valerie Tryon.  You've touched my heart and I hope many more people discover your art.

Sunflower update

Two of the four sunflowers I planted in the front yard are in bloom.  Once they open, they grow quite quickly!

STOP LOSS!

I made my ever first stop loss order on August 29th.  I had bought Stellar Biotech earlier in the week at a cost of about $2.10 for 1150 shares.  However, on August 28th, it started dropping as fast as it had rocketed up.  So, at the opening bell on August 29th, I had a stop loss order put in my cash account and I was preparing to sell the 1200 shares in my TFSA account at another brokerage!  Two browser windows open and within the first 20 minutes of trading, I had dumped Stellar Biotech.  I actually had to use the help system as I had never made a stop loss order before.  This was something I should have done a lot earlier in my very disastrous trading career. So, thanks to some quick moves, I lost $280 in my cash account (which can be applied to my capital losses) and made $580 tax-free in my TFSA account.  I signed up for a trend analysis service and they had some trading rules I should have been applying much earlier. As I review the small profits I made this month on Stellar Biotech and Teranga Gold, I had to get my psychology right as I could have made three times more money than I did because I didn't act at the right time to maximise profits.  You have to be satisfied with any profit and minimise your losses!

Stellar Biotech chart

I also took a 75% loss on North American Palladium after reading this report from Seeking Alpha.  I figured that was better than a 100% loss.

When I heard of the Mount Polley mine tailings pond breach, my heart sank. The still small voice was asking if my investment in Taseko Mines (TKO) was ethical.  Their New Prosperity Project has been blocked twice by the federal government despite being approved by the BC Government.  I had sold 700 of my 2000 TKO shares to move it into Stellar Biotech (that was a good move as it cut my loss on TKO).

Then, last week, I heard of more Eritrean migrants dying in the Mediterranean as they tried to escape to Italy.  I had piled most of my money into Sunridge Gold in the hopes it would be the next Nevsun Resources.  I'm down about 70% on that one too.  Again, the still small voice asked what are you doing investing in a company in Eritrea (the political risk was off the charts) when I first took the dive.  I did anyways because I trusted the instincts of Peter Grandich (a Christian).  So, the still small voice is telling me "you reap what you sow" and I'm thinking SGC is yet another lesson in this.

First Sunflower of the Season starts to open August 21

Yesterday, the first of the six Russian mammoth sunflowers that have grown in our yard started to open its flower.  The one closest to the house has the largest (twisted) stem, but isn't ready to flower yet.  Looking forward to some nice blooms from the ones planted further from the house.  I have two in pots in the back yard, but they are behind in development of the two tall ones in the front yard.

We also made the last pies of the season yesterday as well.  We've made about 15 apple pies the last few days and delivered 8 to various friends these past few days.  Definitely not something you want to gorge yourself on for a few days!

tiny blueberry pie for left over crust

Niagara Region II

We had a second chance to go to Marineland on July 25th.  The kids really like Marineland and I'm partial to it as well (despite the animal rights protesters).  It was another beautiful day in Niagara Falls.  I noticed they planted a lot of serviceberries (Saskatoons) at Marineland:

We were in the Niagara region for the TCCAT retreat at Brock University.

We were blessed that the retreat was the weekend of July 25-27 as the Burlington Skyway eastbound was damaged by a dump truck with the loader up the following Thursday.  The dump truck slammed into the metal trusses and the eastbound part of the bridge was closed for several days.  The actions of one impaired truck driver caused traffic chaos the following long weekend (a great inconvenience for Caribbean Festival travellers from USA to Toronto). Crazy.

Burlington Skyway westbound on the way to Niagara Falls

Norland Apple Pie

Started to process some of the Norland apples into pie today.  I used this pie crust recipe with lard since shortening is bad (transfat).

Visit to Canada's first copper mine - Capleton, Québec

We had a nice visit to the Eastern Townships on July 29th.  One of our stops was Canada's first copper mine in Capleton.  During the 1 hour visit to the mine shaft, you descend 50 m of the total 3 km depth of the mine.  The operators have to pump out water that accumulates to keep the visiting area dry.  Well worth the money we paid!

Here is a good example of the malachite in this mine:

First fruits of 2014

On August 11th, I picked the first apples from our Norland apple tree.  They weren't ripe yet, but I wanted to lighten the load on the tree.

The next day, I picked some more apples and then picked some raspberries as well.  The kids really liked the raspberries.

The Russian mammoth sunflowers are getting close to 6' tall now:

The middle one got stepped on, so it's a little behind.

Black walnuts in Oakville

On August 9th, I noticed large green balls on the tennis courts at Maplegrove Arena in Oakville.  At first, I thought they were crab apples, upon looking up, I saw that they came from the black walnut trees beside the tennis courts.  I thought these were ash trees by the type of leaves on them, but searching for images of the fruit revealed that they were black walnuts.

I saw several reports about the emerald ash borer in the Oakville Beaver, and now they add the Asian longhorned beetle to the fray of invasive insects that have arrived in Oakville.  The EAB has devasted ash trees and it's too bad that such majestic stands of ash have been destroyed.  I noticed that I see more gingko trees being planted as street tress these days.  I noticed some in Etobicoke on the way to a friend's house and saw others in Oakville as well.  I guess this living fossil is resistant to pests for a reason!

On August 1st, I saw this tree in Stratford that I thought was an arbutus, but it probably isn't an arbutus which is common in BC's Lower Mainland.  I didn't realise that arbutus trees are the only broad leafed evergreens in Canada.  Upon further research, I think this is actually a paper bark maple.

That's what I love about Ontario - there are so many different kinds of trees compared to the prairies!  However, the Tree Atlas of Ontario now lists some of my favorite trees as not desirable because they are non-native species.  The European horse chestnut is among them!  I love it's white flowers in June.  That's why I planted my Ohio Buckeye (which can survive Saskatoon winters).  I suppose the pyramidal English Oak would also be an undesirable.  I admired these trees in the court yard at New College at U of T as an undergrad.  My dad's neighbor has them and one of the acorns from their English oaks dropped in our yard and grew into an English oak that is now about 6' tall.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra Concert from 1990

I found an old programme of a TSO concert from 1990 January 25 (two days before Mozart's 234th birthday) .  I recall possibly going to Hart House for supper and then walking down to Roy Thompson Hall to listen to Mozart's Jeunehomme Concerto, KV 271.  I had to take the GO Train back home to Oakville.  I enjoy the recordings I have of Clara Haskil playing this concerto.

The only other TSO concerts I've ever been to was one with Sarah Chang playing a Paganini Violin Concerto (also during undergrad days) and one from Easter Break 1998 with Perlman playing the Brahms Violin Concerto.  Pinchas Zukerman was conducting that evening and I think the Mendelssohn Reformation Symphony was in the second half.

I really enjoyed this concert.  I bought the same day tickets for $10 as a student by walking down to Roy Thompson Hall from U of T before the concert.  Mozart's Jeunehomme Piano Concerto is the music of a teen and it bubbles with youthful energy.  The slow movement is very solemn and has a depth of emotion that reminds me of the slow movement of KV 595 - his last piano concerto.  I also recalled the spectacular brass of the TSO in the finale of Brahms' Second Symphony!

Don't use Ubuntu Linux 14.04 on Pentium 4 Class machines!

I discovered the last two days that Ubuntu 14.04 LTS doesn't run well on a Pentium 4 2.66 GHz with 1.5 G of DDR.  It was formerly running Windows XP SP3.  After trying a for quite a few hours to figure it out, I gave up and put Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on it instead.  I think there's issues with the old GeForce 2 MX400 AGP 4x video card though.  It's running OK though.  I typically do this when installing Ubuntu

1. Install VLC Player from the software centre and set it as the default app to play videos.
2. Install Iced Tea Java Plugin so Java applets will work.  I actually tried installing Java from Oracle on this computer (had to go through the manual command line steps), but it didn't work with the browsers.
3. Install Google Chrome.  I had to download it from Google since it didn't show up in the 12.04 Software Centre.

 Next, I tried using a TP-LINK N150 TL-WN725N USB wireless N adaptor.  It wasn't automatically recognised by Ubuntu.  Luckily, a Google search dug up this solution.  Now this old Pentium 4 can be used as a surfing station connecting wirelessly with the $15 TP-Link wireless N adaptor.

Chuck E Cheese 2014 Civic Holiday

Kids still like Chuck E Cheese.  This one is at Winston Churchill/401 in Mississauga.

It is in the Meadowvale neighborhood.

Toronto Zoo

It was a nice summer day.  Some would say it's too hot, but it was a relatively pleasant summer day for a trip to the zoo.  We saw the pandas, but they were very lethargic.  Quite boring.  The white lions were more interesting.  The lemurs were very active too.  I think the last time I was at the zoo was on an even hotter summer day in 1998.