Discoveries

I wrote about the rechargeable wireless business clip-on earbud¹ a few weeks ago; since then, I've been accustomed to using it.  This morning I popped out of the house to pick up a parcel; I had the earbud in my ear before I left, and I decided to keep it there. Of course, someone telephoned me when I was out. I didn't even have to take my phone from my pocket: I simply pressed on the correct button and talked. When I came back with the parcel, I forgot that I had the earbud in; I picked up the headphones connected to the computer and continued listening to music. A bit later, someone else called, or maybe it was a WhatsApp message which is when I realised that I could hear both the earbud and the headphones. In other words, when someone calls, I only have to remove the headphones; I don't have to start fiddling around with the earbud because it's already in my ear. So I'll put it in when I start work in the morning and I'll take it out in the evening.

My regular computer has been giving me problems ² again. On Sunday morning, the first working day of the month (and incidentally my birthday), the computer simply stopped in its tracks maybe five times in the space of an hour. I gave up and continued working with the computer that I have from work. This second computer doesn't have a separate numerical keyboard (which I find very useful) and has a smaller screen, but it has never given me any problems. After working with this computer non-stop for a day and a half, I wanted to print something. This computer does not have my Pantum printer³ defined, so I dug out the installation cd and copied its contents to the computer. I then ran the setup program; this installed not only the printer but also the scanner program that for some reason was not defined on my primary computer. This morning I've been working without any problem on the primary; maybe the problem was overheating*. Anyway, now that I know that the scanner can be installed, I went ahead and installed it on this computer. No more scanning via a third computer then transferring the files via Anydesk.

Unfortunately, scanning takes a long time (several minutes for a page): this is because the data has to be transferred via wifi. The scanner is connected physically to the XP computer with a USB cable, so naturally that works much faster.

I also found out how the computers - and my mobile phone, for that matter - connect with the printer: I originally wrote "I failed to connect the printer to my wifi: I gave it the network name and password but no connection was made. When I installed the printer driver on the computer, it gave the option of accessing the printer via its own wifi.And lo and behold: I can now print from my mobile to the printer via the magic of wifi!" But this isn't strictly true. What actually happens is that the printer is connected to the router via a network cable, whereas the computers and phone connect to the router via wifi. The computers are not connecting to the printer's wifi but to the router. This isn't going to change anything - as opposed to the first two discoveries - but it's nice to know. It also helped me understand how I (or my wife) can print directly from our mobile phones instead of having to send me something by WhatsApp so that my computer can see the message and print it.

* Indeed it was. It was like watching open heart surgery when the technician took the mobile apart, found the fan - that was not turning - and extracted it, in order to clean all the gunk away. Putting it all back together was somewhat nerve-wracking for me, but he knew what he was doing.

Internal links
[1] 1966
[2] 1928
[3] 1477

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This day in blog history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
45	05/08/2006	Eilat activities	Israel, Holiday
747	05/08/2014	Information quality	DBA
1652	05/08/2023	Dead Sea weekend	Israel, Personal, Holiday
1797	05/08/2024	Agriculture	Kibbutz

Yet another bluetooth headset

I wrote¹ at the beginning of June about the well-engineered YYK-520 headset that I could use for calls, keeping my hands free. The headset worked well as such, but I had problems hanging it properly on my ear. As I wrote at the time, another option was the rechargeable wireless business clip-on earbud: I ordered one from Temu which came a few days ago, and yesterday was the first chance that I had to use it. 

Apart from the price difference (this costs only a third of the headset), it's much easier to use as I only have to put the earpiece into my ear - there's no need to hang anything anywhere. In the picture on the left, the device is hooked onto my shirt and there's a thin wire leading up to my ear - I should have turned my head a little to show the earplug. I've fielded several calls and this device is much easier for me to use than the headset. I imagine that those who use the headset aren't removing it all the time in order to put on music headphones.

As I wrote originally, the documentation is a joke. I'm not too sure that I'm turning it off correctly in the afternoons, but I charge it when I take it off and this seems to be practical.

One thing that I wondered about: what happens to the wire when the earpiece is not in use? It turns out that like a fishing rod, there's a button on the device that reels the cable in, causing the earpiece to sit on top of the device. Design-wise, I might have made the multifunction button larger, or moved it away from the other two buttons, but I can live with how it's designed.

Internal links
[1] 1944

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This day in blog history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
265	21/07/2010	It's the 80s all over again	Programming, Prolog, Bill Thompson
498	21/07/2012	Trivets and punnets	Slow cooker
1245	21/07/2019	Saturday swimming	Swimming
1792	21/07/2024	Continuing to search on two columns	Programming, Delphi, ClientDataSet

Another bluetooth headset

I was a bit too hasty when I wrote¹ about and praised bluetooth headphones a few weeks ago. All the people with whom I spoke that day said that the quality of my voice was such that it sounded as if I was underwater. In other words, those headphones might be good for listening to music (and as it occurred to me a bit later, they're functionally the same as the pair that I wear when I'm walking) but not good for talking.

And so I looked for a better solution, that seems to be the YYK-520 headset (I didn't order from Amazon although the link is to there). I can listen to music via my normal headphones, and when someone calls, I can remove those headphones and clip on the headset. Speech quality seems to be fine.

The headset comes packed in a case that can actually serve as a charging cradle. Inside the case there are also two replacement earpiece covers, although apparently these are of different sizes (surely what is important is the earpiece itself, not the cover). The charging cradle comes in a box; somewhat hidden is the 'user manual' (quite detailed but very small) and a cable suitable for charging.

My wife telephoned me a minute ago whilst I was in the middle of writing this blog, so I had a chance to test how quickly I can put on the headset and what the sound quality is like. The sound was a bit tinny and quiet; I hope that I pressed on the correct button to make the sound louder, but I've probably made it quieter. No doubt it will take me a little time to get used to this device. The key seems to be to insert the earbud first then arrange the ear clip.

There is another option that is compatible with wearing music headphones most of the time (that will still have to be removed when there is a call): a rechargeable wireless business clip-on earbud, as pictured on the left. The device can be clipped onto my shirt and kept there all the time. Whenever someone calls, I can whip off my music headphones, insert the device's earbud into my ear and start talking. As far as I can figure out, the device contains a microphone. The 'manual' appears to be a joke but it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out how to work it. This would cost me a third of the price of the YYK-520, so it's not much to lose if it doesn't work out. The low price also reflects the quality of the device; it's probably fine, but I can see that a great deal of attention was paid to the YYK-520 (eg the charging cradle). I saw someone with this kind of device in the supermarket last week.

Now I can emulate Lt Uhura (showing my age) who predicted the bluetooth earset at least 50 years before they became a reality.

Internal links
[1] 1939

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
364	04/06/2011	Aftermath	TV series, DCI Banks, Peter Robinson, Police procedurals
365	04/06/2011	Human resources management	MBA, HRM
1139	04/06/2018	Italy 2018 - Pisa	Holiday, Pisa, Italy
1230	04/06/2019	Diet, part three	Health
1506	04/06/2022	Senecio walks up the rear garden stairs	Personal
1507	04/06/2022	Italy 2022: Travelling low-cost	Holiday, Italy, Bari
1624	04/06/2023	Standing in the shadows	DCI Banks, Kindle, Peter Robinson, Police procedurals
1772	04/06/2024	Cruise log #3: Agios Nikolaos	Holiday, Greece

Bluetooth headphones for my mobile phone

I wrote exactly one month ago about receiving a "type C headset" that via a kludge connect to my new mobile phone. Although I was very satisfied with the headphones, the connector has been causing problems in the past few days, so when I was in our local shopping mall yesterday, I thought it prudent to investigate possibilities. I should mention in advance that I don't like in-ear headphones.

At first I was looking for a wired solution, but shortly it occurred to me that if the problem with the previous headphones was the connector, then maybe it would be better to go for a wireless - aka bluetooth - solution. So I bought a pair of the R13 headphones as pictured on the left for 99 NIS (about $23); this seems to be the going price in Israel.

I charged them overnight and this morning set about learning how to use them. First of all, I turned them on. Then I turned on the bluetooth setting on my phone, found the device and paired them. Then, wearing the headphones, I 'dialled' my wife from the phone - I could hear her and she could hear me via the internal microphone. So far so good. Then someone phoned me; wearing the headphones, I gave a short press on the power button - and I could answer the call. Closing the call was similar.

There is even a socket for a TF card on the headphones, so maybe I should buy such a card, fill it with songs and then I can listen to them all day instead of listening to music via headphones connected to the computer that I have to remove when someone calls me.

Internal links
[1] 1926

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
362	20/05/2011	Kate Bush - The Director's Cut	Kate Bush, The Unthanks
710	20/05/2014	Tea and iron	Health
854	20/05/2015	Venice log 1 - Arriving	Holiday, Venice, Italy
1135	20/05/2018	Harvest festival	Jewish holidays, Kibbutz
1220	20/05/2019	Villages (Greece 4)	Holiday, Andros, Greece
1221	20/05/2019	Searching for the elusive waterfall (Greece 5)	Holiday, Andros, Greece
1319	20/05/2020	More DBA news in May: it's getting even nearer the end	DBA
1764	20/05/2024	Master of research	DBA

Type C headset

When I received my new phone, I wrote that I needed a new headset with a type C connector. I ordered one and received it quite quickly. At first the headset seemed not to work, but after some playing around, I noticed that the plug had markings on one side whereas the other side was smooth. The side with the markings has to be 'on top' when inserted into the telephone. The power cord, on the other hand, is apathetic; it doesn't care how it is inserted.

Whilst those headphones did their job admirably, I shortly came across two problems. First, quite quickly I managed to break the arm where the microphone is situated. Fortunately, the break was next to the body of the headphones, so this wasn't too much of a problem - as long as I didn't change the orientation of the arm. The second problem is more problematic: as can be seen from the picture, the headphone cushions are supposed to enclose the ears. But they are too small for my ears and hurt my ears somewhat. So I resolved to buy a headphone set where the cushions are flat; the headset that is connected to my computer is like this. This is much less fatiguing.

So I looked for, found a headset with flat cushions and a type C connector, and ordered it. The headset came today and already I have had a chance to use it and find out where its problems lie. The headset comes with a short cable that terminates in a 3.5 mm connector. 

This connects to another piece of cable which appears immediately to the left of the headset in the picture; this cable has the volume controls and terminates in a standard USB socket. To this one connects the USB to type C adapter, pictured on the top left. A kludge but it works and presumably was cheaper than having to change the socket on the volume unit. Unfortunately, this socket was somewhat mangled, but with the help of a screwdriver, I managed to straighten it and so plug in the final connector.

Internal links
[1] 1904

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
167	21/04/2009	Dangerous ideas	ERP, Kaizen
575	21/04/2013	Finally, a thesis title	ERP, DBA
576	21/04/2013	Who knows where the time goes?	Sandy Denny
832	21/04/2015	More home movies	Home movies
1124	21/04/2018	Sandy Denny: 40 years gone	Sandy Denny
1211	21/04/2019	Hardware woes	Mobile phone, Computer
1746	21/04/2024	More performance videos	Home movies, Musical group

This year's headphones

I came back from walking the dog in the late afternoon, removed the headphones through which I hear music, and ... SNAP! The rigid curved plastic that keeps the headphones' shape snapped. These are the headphones that I bought¹ 17 months ago, and although they had a tendency to return the songs to the beginning of the playlist at random times, I was very used to these headphones.

Fortunately a few months ago, I bought a similar pair of headphones from Temu as a spare, knowing that one day I would need them - well, that day has come. Of course, the button layout is different, and on these headphones, a long press increases the volume, whereas a short press moves to the next song. The previous set of headphones had the opposite behaviour, where a long press would move to the next song. These phones seem to play only in mono, very strange for these times.

Obviously it will take me some time to get used to the new layout, especially as the required buttons will now be over the right ear, as opposed to the previous set where they were over the left ear. Maybe next time I'll order two sets of headphones so that I won't have to endure culture shock when the first set breaks.

Temu informs me that these headphones are no longer available, and this gives me an insight into how Temu works. Very often, next to an item will appear something like 'almost sold out'; I used to think that this is a marketing ploy to encourage the browser to order today! because tomorrow the item may not be in stock. This actually seems to be true. I get the impression that Temu buys up old stock cheaply from suppliers because once all the items are sold, there are no more. Several items that I have purchased over the past year are no longer available.

Internal links
[1] 1618

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
766	19/10/2014	Literature review: first draft completed	DBA
1267	19/10/2019	Juliet (naked) - the film	Films, Nick Hornby
1679	19/10/2023	Think again: the power of knowing what you don't know	Health, Non-fiction books

Swimming update

Every year, I try to start swimming by gradually increasing the number of lengths that I swim and by decreasing the number of breathers that I take. My plan for yesterday was two sets of ten lengths, interrupted by a breathing break, but when I got to the tenth length, I felt fine, so I continued until I reached my regular target of twenty lengths without a break. Today I repeated this, although the swimming was slightly more painful than yesterday; this is probably because there were more swimmers today, something that causes me to swim faster, leading to neck ache.

Today was also the first time that I tried out my new swimming headphones. I hadn't bothered until now as I was still concentrating heavily on pacing and breathing and was in no need of distraction. Attaching the headphones to the band of my goggles was frustrating: it took three attempts (mainly by my wife) to get them aligned properly. I will leave them attached to the band forever so that we won't have to go through the attaching problem again. Once I had put the goggles on by the pool, I also ensured that the headphones were placed properly then made a long press on the 'on' button. Tinny music leaked from the headphones. Once in the pool, I found that I could hear much better when my head was submerged than when it was out of the water; this was disconcerting at first. I think that the right headphone wasn't situated properly on a bone as I couldn't hear much from that side (does bone conduction work in stereo?). For some reason, the songs played in a completely random order, if that's not a contradiction in terms. When I got home, I connected the phones to the computer and checked the directory structure: it seems fine.

I drank a glass of vinegar water before I left home; I have no idea if this had any effect. Rereading the explanation of the hack, it seems to make sense only before eating, not before exercise. I'll have another look through the book 'Glucose revolution' to see if there's any recommendation about pre-exercise. I have an appointment with a nutrionist in a few weeks so I'll bring up the topic there.

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
600	17/06/2013	Edinburgh log (4): Loch Ness	Holiday, Ian Rankin, Edinburgh
721	17/06/2014	The Amalfi coast (Sorrento log 6)	Holiday, Sorrento, Italy
1045	17/06/2017	Business rules with functions (2)	Priority tips

Headphones sorted!

Whilst idly strolling though our local shopping mall, I thought that I would enter one of the mobile phone shops and see for future reference whether they had suitable headphones. Does it have a socket of a SD card? Yes. Does it play in stereo? Presumably. They had a few shelves' of headphones as pictured on the left - I could even choose the colour (black or beige; maybe there was another colour). I asked about returning the headphones if they were unsuitable; in a rather surly manner, I was told that there were no returns as the headphones are a 'sterile product'. The cost? Only 69 NIS, about $19, so even if they're no good, I'm not exactly out of pocket.

At home and looking for this product (hence the photo), I see that an Israeli website is selling these headphones for 109 NIS with another 29 NIS for delivery - twice the price!

I charged the headphones for an hour or two - at first I didn't see a LED that showed whether charging was still taking place, but later I saw it change to blue (fully charged) - then extracted the SD card from my previous set of headphones and inserted it into the new. I turned the headphones on; they want to pair via bluetooth. Another press of the same button and finally I can hear my songs in stereo and at a reasonable volume. Despite the fact that the box says 'intuitive controls', someone has a different idea of what 'intuitive' means. In a masterpiece of design, the 'next song' and 'increase volume' functions are on the same button; a long press moves the song on, whereas a short press increases the volume. The last set of headphones that I tried had opposite behaviour, where a long press would set the volume. At least, once I get to the correct song and a suitable volume, I won't have to touch these buttons again. 

So it seems that the headphone problem has been sorted!

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
851	18/05/2015	Florence log 4 - ICSE 2015	DBA, Holiday, Florence, Italy
1134	18/05/2018	A long term mystery solved	Computer
1218	18/05/2019	Batsi (Greece 2)	Holiday, Andros, Greece
1219	18/05/2019	Chora (Greece 3)	Holiday, Andros, Greece

Yes, four years since we were in Andros and eight since we were in Florence! I doubt that we will be going overseas this year.

More problems with headphones

Slightly over a month ago, I wrote about the headphones that only play in mono and don't retain the volume setting. I also wrote that I was ordering another pair of headphones, in the hope that the new set did not suffer from the same problems.

The other evening we received a telephone call on our landline from a shop in Bet Shemesh: it seems that they received a parcel intended for me. This was, of course, the new set of headphones. I had received no notification that the headphones had arrived because for some reason the vendor had only my landline number that can't accept messages sent by SMS. Once we got past those problems, I charged the headphones' battery, inserted the SD card and set off for a walk ... only to discover that these headphones suffer from exactly the same problems - mono and not saving the volume.

I realised that these two no name sets of headphones probably have the same internal mp3 circuitry, thus explaining why they suffer from the same problems. This morning, I set about the surprisingly difficult task of finding a new set of headphones that have a brand name, an sd card slot and are available. It took quite some time before I found these, designated the Bluedio H+ Turbine Wireless Bluetooth Headphones Mic 4.1 Stereo Micro TF Card FM. These cost about twice the price of the previous no-name headphones, so hopefully these will work properly. No one mentioned in any of the reviews that the headphones play only in mono.

I could order via Amazon, where they are priced at about $41 with $16 shipping charges, or via Ebay, at $58 with no shipping charges. This latter price simply reflects the selling price with the shipping charges hidden. I ordered from the Ebay vendor.

When I came to pay via PayPal, I discovered why the Bet Shemesh shop had only my landline number: this was part of the PayPal address. So I edited my contact details to include the more useful telephone number. These should arrive within another few weeks.

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
583	13/05/2013	Delicate truth	John Le Carre
844	13/05/2015	Vinyl log 10 - 13 May	Vinyl log
1131	13/05/2018	Even more on Delphi 7/Hebrew/Win10	Delphi, Unicode

Problems with headphones

Five years ago, I wrote For walking around the kibbutz, I have a pair of headphones with a built in player; these are good, the player continues from the last song played which normally is good, but problematic if the 'song' is a complete album. The headphones themselves aren't as good as the Sony ones, which is not surprising; these barely cover the ears and don't fold, so I don't take them on the train.

Something happened to the phones a few weeks ago: the right hand speaker became detached from the arm; I'm not sure exactly how this happened. I tried repairing the damage with a splint and adhesive tape but this was clearly an interim solution. I quickly ordered a new pair of headphones with an internal mp3 player from Ebay.

These arrived about two weeks ago; whilst they look very good, the problems started as soon as I finished charging the player. After extracting the sd card from the old headphones and making some additions (and deletions) to the songs stored within, I inserted it into the new headphones - this was very easy to do. Then I turned the headphones on: the output was in mono but not even centred. I switched the headphones around - no difference. So it was time to write to the person from whom I had purchased them.

I tried a few experiments, like connecting the headphones via a cable to my external mp3 player; no change. The vendor suggested using the headphones with bluetooth, so I copied a few songs to my phone (including "Yours is no disgrace" by Yes, featuring various stereo effects), turned on the bluetooth and listened. Whilst the sound was very clear, Steve Howe's guitar did not alternately sound from left and right phones. The vendor wanted a video (!) of the phones, although for what purpose I cannot fathom (unless he sells many products), as the problem is with the sound.

A few days ago I decided to cut my losses and ordered another set of headphones, at only half the price. Maybe these will work properly.

In the mean time ... I was about to take the dog for a walk about an hour ago when the right hand speaker became detached from the arm! I'm going to try glueing the speaker as the damage seems easier to repair than with the prior set of heaphones. But even so, these headphones are destined for the rubbish bin.

For my walks, I will now use the external mp3 player connected to my very expensive noise cancelling headphones, although I won't turn this function on.

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
348	09/04/2011	dbProlog	Programming, Delphi, SQL, Firebird, Prolog
567	09/04/2013	Passover hall pictures	Jewish holidays, Mobile phone
568	09/04/2013	Mobile phone problem solved	Mobile phone
693	09/04/2014	Switching mentors	DBA
824	09/04/2015	Trevor Lucas trivia	Sandy Denny, Fotheringay
941	09/04/2016	A few quiet places in Sorrento (2016/5)	Holiday, Sorrento, Italy
1209	09/04/2019	Shadrach in the furnace	Kindle, Robert Silverberg, 1978
1307	09/04/2020	Pesach in the shade of Corona	Jewish holidays, Israel, Covid-19

Bone conduction headphones/mp3 player

Five months ago, at the end of the swimming season, I wrote about bone conduction headphones. As I wrote, I ordered a device, but I had great difficulties with it when it arrived. It was very small, the control interface was terrible, and I was never able to change its source from bluetooth to memory card. In other words, I wasted about 120 NIS.

About a month ago, I returned to the task of finding a suitable device. I don't understand how a device intended for swimming can work with bluetooth: surely the distances involved and the water would prevent transmission. This time I was smart enough to look for devices that only work from their internal memory card. There were two serious contenders: one cost about 700 NIS and the other about 600 NIS. I decided to order the 'cheaper' one: it's only five or six times more expensive than the piece of junk that I previously bought. The above picture is of the Finis Duo player that comes with 4GB memory. 

Apart from anything else, this device has easily accessible controls, although I doubt that I'll need more than on and off. I thought that there was no way to control the volume, but whilst looking at the FAQs for this device, I see that there is... sort of. The instructions say Volume Up: Press and Hold to increase volume, blinking GREEN light but it doesn't say on which button to press. Presumably the big button on top of the X sign - although I wonder how this is disinguised from turning the device on and off. This button appears to control the power, the volume, play and pause. No doubt I'll get the hang of it.

I pondered how I am supposed to 'wear' the device: which bones conduct the sound? The blurb says that An integrated clip design secures the Duo™ to goggle straps to rest on the cheekbones for a comfortable and streamlined fit. Looking closely at the phones, I can see where how the goggle strap holds the phones.

4GB memory doesn't allow me to store all that I might have wanted to listen to. I've loaded it almost completely; in the future, I'll see which songs don't suit swimming (no King Crimson nor van der Graaf Generator!).

Due to the price of this device, I had to pay customs duty (anything over $70 or $75 is liable for duty). I received an SMS supposedly from the Israeli Post Office on Saturday, but this looked like a scam. Then I saw in my (physical) mailbox a note from the Kibbutz 'post office' that I had received a parcel and that I had to pay 87 NIS duty; the SMS said 10.25 NIS duty. I tried to pay the duty via the official Israeli Post Office, but I didn't seem to have the correct parcel number. The parcel was physically in our office, but the lady there wouldn't let me have it until I paid the duty (I asked her out of curiosity how she would know, and she said that she would take my word for it). As I had to go to the local town's post office anyway for something else, I took a picture of the parcel's label, hoping that the postal clerk would be able to figure out the correct identity number. 

I showed the clerk a printout of the website to which I was directed from the SMS - he identified it as spam, as I suspected. Thinking about it now, I find it strange that the scamming sum requested included agorot (cents); I imagine that the customs duty is rounded to a whole shekel number (who uses agorot now?). I also understand the psychology of the scam - it's only a small amount, so it won't cause much damage. But if 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 people pay 10 NIS - that's a lot of money! 

I find the timing of the scam interesting - how did the scammer know that I was about to receive a parcel?

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This day in history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
337	27/02/2011	Michael Palin	TV series, Prague, Poland, Michael Palin
456	27/02/2012	More spooks	TV series, MI5
928	27/02/2016	Chicken breasts in tomato sauce	Cooking
1013	27/02/2017	What are the benefits of ERP enhancement?	ERP, DBA
1203	27/02/2019	Pneumonia again	Health
1476	27/02/2022	More musicians	Obituary, King Crimson
1587	27/02/2023	Bone conduction headphones/mp3 player	mp3, Headphones

The 2022 swimming season finishes

Excuse the poor selfie: this was an attempt to capture myself in my dressing gown next to the pool, prior to my entering it for the final swim of the year. 

In 3½ months of visiting the pool, apparently I have swum 567 lengths, or just over 14 km. I thought that after a shaky start, I swam 20 lengths every Friday and Saturday, but it seems that I didn't do so in June and some of July. I swim at a pace of about 1 length per minute, but the entire process lasts just over an hour (walking to the pool, swimming, resting, walking home then showering). So I'll have two more hours a week at my disposal.

With all this swimming and also walking (almost every day over 10,000 steps, which is about 8.5 km), one would think that my weight has decreased. Somehow, since the first of June, my weight has ballooned from 81.8 kg to 85.1 kg! That is not very encouraging.

Last week was the vernal equinox and the Jewish New Year; the nights have been getting longer and cooler. Despite this, the days have been very hot, reaching 35-37°C at midday. Something else has changed as well: along with the heat, I've started having headaches that range from the mild to the annoying - minor migraines. The first time I was taken unaware and had a miserable day; since then I've taken two half pills, but I'd prefer not to have to take anything at all.

I'll close off  this portion of the blog with a long quote from the book "Blue mind":

But there’s much more to the experience of swimming than buoyancy. Water has a tangible quality, a weight, and it has 600 times the resistance of air. Unlike earth or air, we can explore water in multiple dimensions — up, down, sideways; as neurologist Oliver Sacks comments, we feel tangibly supported and embraced by this “thick, transparent medium.” The resistance and pressure of water contribute to swimming’s role as one of the best forms of both aerobic exercise and muscle toning. Because the pressure of water outside the body is greater than the pressure inside, explains Bruce E. Becker, director of the National Aquatics and Sports Medicine Institute at Washington State University, water forces blood away from the extremities and toward the heart and lungs. The heart responds by upping its effort, pushing this extra volume of blood more efficiently with each heartbeat, and thus circulating upwards of 30 percent more blood volume than normal throughout the body. To cope with this increased load, the arterial blood vessels relax and create less resistance to blood flow. 

Here’s the intriguing part: one of the hormones that regulates arterial function is catecholamine, and catecholamines are part of the body’s response to stress. As Becker describes it, “During immersion, the body sends out a signal to alter the balance of catecholamines in a manner that is similar to the balance found during relaxation or meditation.” In other words, just being in the water can create a feeling of relaxation and a decrease in stress.  

But that’s not all. The lungs are receiving a greater volume of blood as well, which, combined with the pressure that water exerts on the chest wall, makes them work harder to breathe — approximately 60 percent harder than on land. This means that aquatic exercise can strengthen the respiratory muscles and improve their efficiency. In one study that compared aquatic aerobics with “dry” aerobics, Becker discovered that while various forms of aerobics improved fitness levels and some respiratory capacity, only aquatic exercise improved respiratory endurance. The muscles, too, are benefiting from the increased circulation as they receive greater amounts of blood and oxygen. And it’s a good thing, too, because it requires effort to propel the body through water; in swimming, every muscle is benefiting from what is essentially resistance training (one of the best ways to increase both tone and strength). In addition, swimming works the large, smooth muscles of the body, stretching and lengthening the muscles, joints, and ligaments with each stroke, while the head and spine get a good workout with every breath you take. It all means that stroking through the water not only puts you into a psychologically relaxed state, but also makes you physically stronger.  

Like other forms of aerobic exercise, swimming can produce the release of endorphins and endocannabinoids  (the brain’s natural cannabis-like substances), which reduce the brain’s response to stress and anxiety. Some theorize that the feel-good effects of swimming are related to the same “relaxation response” triggered by activities like hatha yoga. In swimming, the muscles are constantly stretching and relaxing in a rhythmic manner, and this movement is accompanied by deep, rhythmic breathing, all of which help to put swimmers into a quasi-meditative state.

(Nichols, Wallace J., "Blue Mind: How Water Makes You Happier, More Connected and Better at What You Do" (pp. 108-110). Little, Brown Book Group. Kindle Edition. )

I don't know about that quasi-meditative state. I do know that I find it easier to swim when I am thinking about anything but swimming; for example, last week I was working out the algorithm for improving the correlation calculations, and the lengths went by swiftly. But the day before, ironically I was thinking about perseverance and how it applies to swimming; I had slight problems in maintaining rhythm. I have overcome this in the past via the use of headphones, but I have become very dissatisfied with them: when I manage to get them to work, my ears get blocked so I can't hear anything anyway.

There appears to be a solution for this: one day, I was talking with a swimmer older than I, and I could hear something emanating from around his head. He explained that he gets very bored when swimming (aha! I'm not the only one) and so he found headphones that work by bone conduction. After walking home, showering and decompressing, I went looking for such headphones on the Internet and ordered a pair. Obviously they were not going to arrive in time for this year's swimming, but I'll have them for next year. They'll also be useful when walking the dog in rainy weather: I should be easily able to fit those headphone on my head then put on a woolly cap and possibly a waterproof-cover.

As Wikipedia puts it, Bone conduction is the conduction of sound to the inner ear primarily through the bones of the skull, allowing the hearer to perceive audio content without blocking the ear canal. Bone conduction transmission occurs constantly as sound waves vibrate bone, specifically the bones in the skull, although it is hard for the average individual to distinguish sound being conveyed through the bone as opposed to the sound being conveyed through the air via the ear canal. Intentional transmission of sound through bone can be used with individuals with normal hearing — as with bone-conduction headphones — or as a treatment option for certain types of hearing impairment. Bone generally conveys lower-frequency sounds better than higher frequency sounds. 

I didn't know about the frequency filter until reading this now; this is a bit disappointing but I suppose that it's not that important in the long run. I wonder whether I should listen to songs with vocals or instrumentals; I think that songs will help me keep more focused on the music and less on the swimming, which is the whole point. 8 GB storage is huge! I calculate that I swam for about 9½ hours for the entire period this year, which means that fully loading the storage will cause no song will repeat. I'll write more about this once the headphones arrive and I start using them. Ironically, the wiki article doesn't mention the possibility of using bone conduction headphones when swimming.

The search for the perfect mp3 player

As readers will know, I travel frequently on the train to Karmiel which is a three hour journey going there and three and a half back (there is a twenty minute wait coming back). Less frequently I travel to Tel Aviv or Haifa; during all of these journeys I listen to music so the topic of a good mp3 player is frequently on my mind. For these trips I use the Sony noise cancelling headphones which I bought at the beginning of the year; these provide excellent sound (and I don't hear my fellow travellers) but there is no built in mp3 player, so I need an external one. 

The venerable Sansa Clip is well designed but keeps on starting from the beginning; as I have slightly over 1700 songs on the memory card, it is very annoying at the beginning of each journey to find the song which I last heard. Supposedly this player can start from where it left off the previous time, but when I turn it on, I am presented with a menu which begins "Play all songs". Maybe I should restore the factory defaults and see what happens then.

The cheap ones which I bought in May are ... cheap. At least they continue playing from the last song heard, but their battery capacity is two hours at most. This means that on the trip to Karmiel, I have to extract the memory card from one player and insert it into another. I've given up with these.

I have ordered yet another player from Ebay but this has yet to arrive so I can't comment on it.

For walking around the kibbutz, I have a pair of headphones with a built in player; these are good, the player continues from the last song played (which normally is good, but problematic if the 'song' is a complete album). The headphones themselves aren't as good as the Sony ones, which is not surprising; these barely cover the ears and don't fold, so I don't take them on the train.

What I would like is an mp3 player which continues from exactly where it was when it was turned off (as opposed to playing from the last song heard or from the beginning) and which I can connect, either via cable or Bluetooth to the Sony headphones. I still haven't found what I'm looking for, as Bono once sang.

On the other hand ... one summer activity of mine is swimming. I find this very boring, especially when my stamina builds up and I can swim 20+ lengths. Whilst browsing for mp3 players, I came across an intriguing entry: an mp3 player for swimmers with built in earbuds! As they don't cost very much, I thought that I would take the plunge and order a set. They arrived today and I've been playing with them all afternoon (I'll test them in the pool tomorrow). 

As opposed to the other players, these have no external memory card; the songs are stored on internal memory. They supposedly have a capacity of 8GB, but actually have about 7GB - this is still enough for about 1400 songs which would take a very long time to listen to - much longer than I swim all summer long - so this isn't really a problem. On the other hand, having earbuds means that I can use this player whilst wearing my Italian straw hat. This is a definite plus. The sound quality is not bad at all, provided that one doesn't listen too loud. 

The main problem with this player which I have already established is that accessing the controls is very difficult: the player is supposed to be worn around the neck with the controls at the back of the neck and the leads connecting the earbuds to the player are very short. On the other hand, one is hardly likely to start fiddling with the controls when one is swimming. I imagine that I will turn the player on when I get to the pool, swim then turn it off at some stage. The controls themselves are slightly confusing.

One has to 'break the player in half' in order to extract the player itself in order to load songs and charge it. It's easy to take the player out but slightly harder to replace it. I only hope that replacing it frequently does not ruin the water-tight seal: this player won't be any good if it doesn't survive its first swimming session!

I have yet to establish its behaviour with regard to song order and from where it starts. It seems so far that the player doesn't handle directories, meaning that all songs have to be in the root directory. I seem to recall that a root directory can have at most 512 files; as these players use the FAT system, this may be a problem. At least all (or at least, most) of the files have their playing number incorporated both in the filename (e.g. 2105 Cottonwood) and in the mp3 tag, so this shouldn't cause a problem. I can sort the files to be in physical according to their names, which overcomes another problem. So far, the songs are playing in order. I've only copied about fifty songs which should be enough for the time being.

More headphones

Yesterday I finally got around to 'ripping' some songs from a singer's cds to mp3 format so that I could hear them on my 'regular' headphones (not the noise cancelling ones). I extracted the memory card from the headphones, put them in an adapter and connected it to the computer in order to copy the mp3 files. Easy as pie.

The problems started when I went to put the memory card back into the headphones. This is always a tricky operation as the memory card has to be inserted in one specific way and I can never remember which way that is. This time, when inserting the card, it slipped from my fingers and fell into the innards of the headphones. I tried to extract the card but it seems that my efforts only made things worse by pushing the card further into the socket (or into the space around the socket). I tried widening the socket opening with pliers but again, my attempts to do so only worsened the problem.

Why was it so important for me to extract the memory card, even at the price of trashing the 'phones? After all, a new memory card would cost less than another set of 'phones. Well, as it happens, I have a spare set of 'phones doing nothing, so their cost is effectively zero. Also, the price of a memory card does not take into account all the time and effort I have spent in ripping songs to the card (there are something like 64 directories on the card, where a directory can hold between ten and a hundred files, so we're talking about a few thousand songs).

Somehow my wife managed to extract the card using nothing more than her nails. I popped the card very carefully into the spare set of 'phones and I was set. As I wrote before, the controls are harder to access than the trashed 'phones, and these don't fold, but then I don't intend to take them on train journeys.

One huge advantage which the traditional mp3 players have is that the USB socket has two functions: it both charges the internal battery and allows access to the file system of the memory card. In all of the mp3 headphones which I have bought, the USB socket is used solely for charging; one has to extract the memory card in order to add (or delete) files. 

On the basis of this experience, I am going to be very careful if I ever extract the memory card from the new headphones.

Travelling to Karmiel with my new headphones

As my grand-daughter would say, "Wow!". It would appear that these noise cancelling headphones are worth every penny which I spent on them. Ambient noise was reduced to almost nothing, allowing me to hear music at a very low level and not 'encourage' the high pitched white noise which I seem to hear all the time (aka tinnitus).

The noise cancellation was less good in the open air (specifically at the Tel Aviv University train station): there was definite muffling of noise, but it was still present. I used to turn off my headphones when at the station as the noise level was far too high; yesterday I could still listen to music despite the noise.

My only gripes are the cable connecting the headphones to the mp3 player (the cable itself is a story in itself: I tried two cables at home, neither of which worked well, before trying the cable which came with the headphones) and the mp3 player itself. Once upon a time, it used to remember what song was playing when it was turned off; it would resume in the same place when turned on again. Now it starts from the beginning every time. Maybe resetting the device will cure this problem. [Edited 02/02/18: Downloading and uploading the firmware fixed this problem]

I spent several hours on the train reading Tom Clancy's "Sum of all fears", a book which I seem to have never read before. This one goes on and on and on, although the amount of editorial writing seems less than in others by the same author. I think that I'm about half-way through the book but I'm not enjoying it very much.

Noise cancelling headphones (2)

After my original post on the subject, I did more searching on the net and eventually decided to purchase a pair of Sony MDR-ZX770BN headphones; these have received good reviews and are not too expensive.  I could have bought a pair from an Israeli supplier at what appeared to be a slightly higher price than the British supplier from whom I bought, but once other factors such as shipping and customs charges were taken into account, it looks like I made a poor decision regarding the vendor.

As these are proper headphones made by a very reputable manufacturer, the packaging was extensive: not just a plastic bag, but a box which fits inside a box which fits inside another box! There are also legible instructions in about fifteen languages (although Hebrew does not appear to be one of those). 

As seems to be the norm with such headphones, they receive their music via Bluetooth or via a cable. For the time being, I'll have to connect the headphones to my old (but good!) mp3 player via the cable; it might be possible to tape the player to the headphones. I have ordered a Bluetooth mp3 player which accepts a memory card, so I won't have the cable problem in the future. These are not the outcomes which I wanted but they are acceptable.

I used the accompanying USB cable (the same as my Kindle cable) to charge the headphones. A red light did come on to show that the headphones were charging; presumably it turned itself off when the battery was fully charged (I'm not sure about this). A press of a few seconds on the power button turns the headphones on; I think that a press on the 'nc' button turns the noise cancelling function on. I can't hear any difference at the moment but then I'm sitting in a quiet place.

The real test will be in two days' time when I travel to Karmiel. Will I hear extraneous noise? Will I hear my music at a reasonable level? All will soon be answered.

Noise cancelling headphones

When I travel by train, which I do about one and a half times a week, I listen to music via headphones. This is partially to mask the sounds of the train itself and partially to mask the sounds of other passengers - Israelis are not the type to sit quietly! I have noted that I really have to crank the volume up, to listen at a much higher volume than I would prefer.

As a result, I have started to suffer from tinnitus, which manifests itself as a wash of white noise at a high frequency. Fortunately, it comes and goes; it's barely present on the days when I don't travel. I would like to reduce the volume in my headphones when travelling, which is what leads me to noise cancelling headphones. These should allow me to listen at a much lower volume whilst shutting out all the extraneous noise.

Being slightly old-fashioned (these days, this means a year or two behind the times), I prefer to store my music on a TF card as opposed to storing the music on my telephone and transmitting to the headphones via Bluetooth. After searching on Ebay for noise cancelling headphones which can accept a TF card, I ordered one such device for the princely cost of about $25. The headphones arrived very quickly, but before I could use them, I had to photocopy and enlarge by 50% the very small user instructions. Thus armed, I could understand what I needed to do in order to play music stored on the memory card.

The initial volume was extremely loud; after pressing on the correct button to reduce the volume, I tested the noise cancelling functionality ... which did not seem to be present. I got in contact with the suppliers, who very quickly responded that another purchaser had asked the same question recently. It turns out that there is no noise cancelling, which is why some of their advertising material does not mention this (but their headline does). In other words, these headphones are functionally the same as the ones I already use. The new headphones have bluetooth and make announcements, but the controls are harder to access and I couldn't see how to fold them (the picture on the left is not of the model which I purchased).

In other words, I was duped. I will keep these headphones in reserve for the day when my main headphones cease working, but otherwise I'm back where I started. Looking again at Ebay listings, it would seem that any decent pair of noise cancelling headphones is going to cost over $100 and will be made by a respectable manufacturer, eg Bose or Sennheiser. None of the models which I have found accept TF cards (I wonder why), but all have either Bluetooth or the ability to connect to an external mp3 player. I shall continue looking ....

One gets what one pays for

On Friday, I casually mentioned to the Occupational Psychologist that I had discovered a website that sells gadgets cheaply (she's a gadget freak). "Oh, you mean Deal Extreme? [DX]", she asked. "I buy lots of stuff from there, like phone covers and protectors. It takes a while for the orders to arrive but it's worth it. And the shipping is free".

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had ordered an SD memory card reader (I may not have mentioned that I ordered it from DX). Whilst the card reader has yet to arrive, another order which I made from DX did arrive on Thursday: a set of wireless headphones and a solar powered butterfly.

The wireless headphones were for my father: he is very deaf and can only hear his television with the aid of headphones plugged into the tv. He had a set of wireless headphones which stopped working so I gave him a spare pair of headphones which I had at home; these have a 2.5 metre cable. As a result, he watches television by placing a chair two metres from the set and plugging in: not an ideal setup. This new set of wireless headphones was intended to allow him to sit further away. The set comprises a broadcasting unit (very flimsy) which is plugged into the television's headphone socket and the headphones themselves (which contain an in-built tuner, thus supposedly adding value to the set).

Once plugged in, I managed to hear the television for about 30 seconds; then some automatic function within the headphones caused them to change channel, so instead of hearing the television, I then heard FM radio. I managed to convince the headphones to output the television signal again, but after a minute, I once again heard the radio.

I took the headphones home, plugged the broadcasting unit into our stereo and played a cd. This time, I was unable whatsoever to hear any music via the headphones, although again I was able to hear FM radio.

I get the feeling that the broadcasting unit doesn't work properly; as this was the whole point of buying the set, it means that the set does not do its job correctly. On the other hand, my wife may appropriate the headphones so that she can listen to the radio....

I consoled myself by the fact that the set cost only $15 (with no shipping costs) so I wasn't exactly out of pocket by very much.

I bought a few years ago a pair of solar lit birds - these are bird shaped lumps of plastic with a little bulb inside which is powered by solar radiation. The birds are 'perched' on a long stick of plastic which is planted in one of the flower boxes on the balcony (in fact, I think that one of them appeared in one picture which I placed here). During the day, the solar batteries charge, and at dusk the birds 'light up' - it looks very nice. So I bought a solar powered butterfly from DX thinking that it was the same thing - only much cheaper.

I connected the parts and placed the butterfly in a flower box. Yesterday was very hot with plenty of sun so I imagined that the battery would be fully charged. Come dusk, the birds light up but the butterfly stayed mute. We looked at the box in which the butterfly came and saw that it could be powered both by solar means and by a normal AAA battery, so we took the plastic stand apart and inserted the battery. When we turned it on, the butterfly did not light up as I had expected, but instead starting flying around its stand.

In other words, with respect to both products, one gets what one pays for.

I think that in the future I am going to order items from DX which do not require a battery, such as the SD card reader or nail scissors. There is little that can go wrong with a pair of scissors!