wrightchatter

[wrightchatter]

I’m always on the lookout for something new and different in the world of social media and phone/tablet apps in general.

I’ve recently discovered an app by the name of #Geneva. An app available for iOS, Android and also it’s available on the web.

This system differs from the general run of social media currently on the scene in that you can configure it to your requirements. What you create within the app can be as public as you wish letting anyone view and/or contribute, or you can have something more private, allowing contributions from just a few selected family members and/or friends.

Within Geneva are what are called houses and within each house are rooms. Each room can serve a different purpose/function, currently there are five different types:

Chat Rooms: Basic postings of text with optional gifs, images, videos, hyperlinks and replies, which can contain any of the elements contained in the opening message.

Post Rooms: Similar to Chat Rooms with a few more features.

Audio Rooms: Where you can converse via sound live with others in the room

Video Rooms: As with Audio Rooms, but live with video, up to 16 people can partake at any one time in a video room

Broadcast Rooms: This is again live video, but this time up to 9 people can actually partake in video proceedings or be on stage with thousands in the audience, who can text chat with those on stage and request to become part of the video proceedings

Apparently, there is more to come.

I myself have created a house and created a few rooms with some friends I’ve met over the years on other social media sites. The beauty of Geneva is you can make your house as open or private as you wish. We haven’t set up any audio or video rooms as of yet, but perhaps in the future that may occur.

What we’ve created so far are:

The Chat Room: For general posts and discussion

Three Little Words: An attempt to bring back the feeling of a sadly closed app by the name of Natter, where your posts consisted of a maximum three words plus an optional hashtag and image, may sound very basic, but it’s fun

What We’re Watching: Exactly what it says in the room name. Tell all what your current favourite must watch is

Seal Snap Posts: There’s an app by the name of Seal that a few of us use. This room is an extension of this app, giving us a chance to discuss what we’ve all posted on Seal

If you want to see more and what is possible then there is an invitation below to the house I’ve created, which I’ve named ‘The Orchard🌳’.

Feel free to have a look, and post something in the ‘Chat’ room or get involved with some of the other rooms we’ve created.

https://links.geneva.com/invite/93d933a3-f664-4406-98bd-03f007e5ae06

Jeff Wright, 9th June 2021

[wrightchatter]

Basic Programming

Back in the summer of last year, during our first lockdown I was busy putting the finishing touches to a program I’d been writing using the BASIC programming language. Are you of a certain age and remember trying to program in BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)?

I’ve found an app for iOS called cbmHandBasic.

That’s the ‘what it looks like in the App Store’ image. This allows you to do a bit of BASIC programming.

But before you try out your own programming you wanna sample my terrible programming skills and play my interpretation of Hangman, don’t you?

Assuming you said yes to that question, here’s what you need to do:

🔸Install cbmHandBasic on your iPhone or iPad

🔸Copy the entire contents of my BASIC program which appears below onto your clipboard.

🔸Launch cbmHandBasic

🔸On a new line type Edit “hangman.bas” and hit the Return key

🔸A new screen should appear with something like 10 PRINT “Hello World”

🔸Just ignore this and tap the screen, so the cursor is on a new line

🔸 Tap the screen a second time and the options ‘Select | Select All | Paste’ should appear

🔸Tap on ‘Paste’ and the contents of the clipboard should appear

🔸Tap on ‘Save’ at the top of the screen and you will go back to the original screen

🔸Now on a new line type Load “hangman.bas” and hit the Return key

🔸Finally type Run, hit the Return key and the program should run

Don’t get too excited it’s far from perfect and there’s no graphics in the program. The word you have to try and guess is chosen at random from a selection of 52 words I’ve built into the program. There’s no check made as to what your previous word was so there is a possibility that you could get the same word twice in a row.

If you’re feeling really adventurous you could add more words, which if you know BASIC you’ll easily see where they should go within the program. The only restriction being that you can only use letters a-z, no numbers, punctuation or spaces. It doesn’t matter if you use upper or lower case as the program converts all into upper case.

If you do add more words it is most important to make sure the last DATA line reads: DATA “end”. An error will occur if this is not the last line.

If carrying out the above procedure to get the program any subsequent times you wish to play Hangman you just need to type Load “hangman.bas” and hit the Return key followed by Run and hitting the Return key.

Have fun! 😊

Here’s the program:

10 REM HANGMAN

30 CLS

50 PRINT"HANGMAN by Jeff Wright"

70 PRINT

90 GOSUB 1300:REM CALCULATE NUMBER OF WORDS

110 INPUT "What is your name";NAME$

130 IF NAME$="" THEN LET NAME$="Anonymous"

150 IF LEFT$(NAME$,1)=>"a" AND LEFT$(NAME$,1)=<"z" THEN GOSUB 1000

170 CLS:PRINT"HANGMAN by Jeff Wright":PRINT

190 PRINT"Hello ";NAME$;"!"

250 RESTORE

270 DIM W$(N)

290 FOR L=1 TO N

310 READ W$(L)

330 GOSUB 1200:REM CAPITALISE WORDS

370 NEXT L

390 LET G=INT(RND(1)*N)+1

400 PRINT

410 PRINT"Let Us Play HANGMAN"

420 PRINT"You have 10 Lives"

425 PRINT

430 PRINT "Guess the word, it has ";LEN(W$(G));" letters"

450 LET SOFAR$=""

470 Q=LEN(W$(G)):PRINT"So far guessed: ";

490 FOR F=1 TO Q

510 LET SOFAR$=SOFAR$+"-"

530 NEXT F

550 PRINTSOFAR$

560 LET LIVES=10

570 PRINT

590 PRINT"Make a guess: >";

610 GET K$:GOSUB 1500:REM CAPITALISE GUESS

630 IF K$="" THEN GOTO 610

650 PRINTK$

660 LET FOUND=0

665 LET SF$=SOFAR$:LET SOFAR$=""

670 FOR F=1 TO LEN(W$(G))

690 IF K$=MID$(W$(G),F,1) THEN LET FOUND=1

710 IF K$=MID$(W$(G),F,1) THEN LET SOFAR$=SOFAR$+K$

723 IF K$<>MID$(W$(G),F,1) THEN LET SOFAR$=SOFAR$+MID$(SF$,F,1)

730 NEXT F

750 IF FOUND=1 THEN PRINT "Well done ";NAME$;", you have guessed a correct letter!"

755 IF FOUND=1 THEN GOSUB 1600

760 IF FOUND=0 THEN PRINT "Sorry ";NAME$;", incorrect letter, you have lost a life!"

765 IF FOUND=0 THEN LET LIVES=LIVES-1:GOSUB 1630

770 PRINT"You have";LIVES;"lives remaining"

773 PRINT"So far guessed: ";SOFAR$

780 IF LIVES=0 THEN PRINT:PRINT"Sorry ";NAME$;" you have lost all your lives"

790 IF LIVES=0 THEN PRINT"The correct word was: ";W$(G)

800 IF W$(G)=SOFAR$ THEN PRINT:PRINT"Congratulations ";NAMES$;" word correctly guessed!"

850 IF W$(G)<>SOFAR$ AND LIVES>0 THEN GOTO 570

860 PRINT:PRINT"Would you like to play again (Y/N)?";

870 GET K$:GOSUB 1500:REM CAPITALISE GUESS

880 IF K$="" THEN GOTO 870

890 IF K$="Y" THEN GOSUB 1800

892 IF K$="Y" THEN GOTO 390

900 CLS:PRINT"Thank you for playing HANGMAN by Jeff Wright"

910 PRINT"Goodbye"

920 END

1000 REM SORT NAME

1020 LET K=ASC(LEFT$(NAME$,1))

1030 LET NAME$=CHR$(K-32) + RIGHT$(NAME$,LEN(NAME$)-1)

1040 RETURN

1200 REM CAPITALISE WORDS

1210 FOR M=1 TO LEN(W$(L))

1213 LET T$=""

1215 LET K=ASC(MID$(W$(L),M,1))

1220 IF K>96 AND K<123 THEN LET T$ = LEFT$(W$(L),M-1)

1230 IF K>96 AND K<123 THEN LET T$=T$+CHR$(K-32)

1240 IF K>96 AND K<123 THEN LET T$=T$+RIGHT$(W$(L),LEN(W$(L))-M)

1250 IF K>96 AND K<123 THEN LET W$(L)=T$

1260 NEXT M

1270 RETURN

1300 REM CALCULATE NUMBER OF WORDS

1310 LET N=0

1320 READ T$

1330 IF T$<>"end" THEN LET N=N+1

1340 IF T$<>"end" THEN GO TO 1320

1350 RETURN

1500 REM CAPITALISE GUESS

1505 IF K$="" THEN RETURN

1510 LET K=ASC(K$)

1520 IF K>96 AND K<123 THEN LET K$=CHR$(K-32)

1530 IF K$<"A" OR K$>"Z" THEN LET K$=""

1540 RETURN

1600 REM CORRECT SOUND

1610 ALERT 1

1620 RETURN

1630 REM WRONG SOUND

1640 ALERT 5

1650 RETURN

1800 REM RESTART

1810 CLS

1820 PRINT"HANGMAN by Jeff Wright"

1830 RETURN

2000 DATA "Responsibility","Originate","Supernova","Treadmill","Wasteland"

2010 DATA "Locomotive","Fundamental","Dragonfly","Nincompoop","Outrageous"

2020 DATA "Posture","Publication","Rocketry","Monetary","Sandpaper"

2030 DATA "respiratory","scaffolding","seasonal","solution","consequence"

2040 DATA "uncharacteristic","upholsterer","voluntary","wavelength","worrisome"

2050 DATA "zigzag","aversion","backstroke","cabbage","dictaphone"

2060 DATA "esplanade","flapjack","garrison","historical","impassioned"

2070 DATA "juggernaut","kindergarten","lowland","mechanism","newfangled"

2080 DATA "orphanage","packaging","quotient","reception","seasonable"

2090 DATA "townspeople","unification","venturesome","windscreen","xylophone"

2100 DATA "youthful","zodiac"

5000 DATA "end"

5010 REM Hangman

Jeff Wright, 10th April 2021

[wrightchatter]

Hello, it’s Saturday! Hope everyone’s well.

Been keeping myself busy washing and cooking, took the dogs walkies, avoiding getting close to anyone. Spoke to someone I know, but we did it on opposite sides of the road, what a way to have to live. But if that’s what we have to do to keep healthy then so be it.

Get a bit worried that many don’t seem to have got the full gravity of the situation. Traveling here, there and everywhere, meeting friends, going about life as if nothing is wrong, most likely not washing their hands when they get home. A danger to their selves and everyone around them.

Perhaps I’m worrying too much, but it does concern me when this whole situation is compared on the news to a war, which quite honestly it is, and we are currently, in the UK, in the phoney war stage.

Look what’s happening in Italy, it’s going to happen here if people don’t start to be sensible, and that means now. There’s going to be so much loss of life if people don’t start to act in a sensible and responsible manner.

We need to defeat this virus not feed it!

Jeff Wright, 21st March 2020

[wrightchatter]

Managed to upload October’s 1 Second Everyday video, now let’s try to get this up to date and upload November’s video.

November is over!

A Month that brought us Groomed Dogs, DrawChat, Banks Nearly Burst, Ashley’s Birthday, Amazing Clouds, Mr Blackbird, Lucia’s Drawing, Freezer Door Open, Elf Trouble, Puddy Cat On Wall, DubFi (The New Natter - perhaps), New Dominos, Invoice Mountain, Smoke Filled Streets, Lauren’s New House, New Front Door, The Original Guman, Winter Wonderland and many other things.

Created with the app 1 Second Everyday

Best viewed in landscape mode.

[wrightchatter]

Had problems uploading by 1 Second Everyday video last month, so thought I’d try again now.

October is done!

A Month that brought us Early Morning Sunrise, Goodbye BST, Mum’s Birthday, Frosty Morning, Tree Trunks, Pampas Grass, Glastonbury 2020?, Baby Snail, Rose Dew Drops, Haircut, Milk Tray, Phone Died, Halloween, Toadstools, Longest Chip, Dinner at Brothers, Orange Football, 1st Limor Post and many other things.

Complied with the app ‘1 Second Everyday’, of which apparently there is a new version available for Android, if you’re a Android user and wish you could access this app.

Best viewed in landscape mode.

[wrightchatter]

HollerHear is an interesting app. A bit like Twitter, but with one big difference, you say your posts rather than type them in.

Here’s a video of my most recent posts. See you on HollerHear.

Jeff Wright, 17th November 2019

[wrightchatter]

Lots of Water

In fact too much water. This stream is normally no where near this full. Keeping a close watch on it.

Jeff Wright, 11th November 2019

[wrightchatter]

A day that did not quite go right

I do try to keep those blood glucose levels on an even keel, but yesterday was a day that didn’t go right. I’ve recorded an account of the day on the app Chirp, and my Chirp post does appear above.

I’ve been having problems posting on here recently, with a torrent of error appearing as I upload. As way of experiment I’m now using my iPad rather than iPhone to upload, and fingers crossed all with be well.

Jeff Wright, 7th November 2019

[wrightchatter]

Testing testing testing...

Just testing this platform, because every time I post something here it no longer appears on my feed. What goes on? Is it broken?

Ok, so this seemed to appear, it would appear it doesn’t like videos any more. I assume images will work.

Interesting a mile of errors came up as I posted this with the image above added, but it has posted. I’ll draft off a message to the powers that be of Tumblr, obviously something is wrong.

Jeff Wright, 7th November 2019

[wrightchatter]

That was September!

A Month that brought us Jeffrey Moo Cow, Tiger Steve, Spider In Kitchen, Blackberries In The Garden, Morning Mrs Heron, Ball Balancing, Green Bin Saga, Smart Meter, Toy Truck Sale, Dreaded VAT, Beacon Car Exit, Dishwasher Tablet, Paving Curtailed, Pot Of Gold, Lifting Device, Dog’s Double Bed and many other things.

Best viewed in landscape mode.

Created with the app 1 Second Everyday.

Jeff Wright, 30th September 2019

[wrightchatter]

And now a special report of how a spider brought terror to poor niece Lauren. But uncle Jeff came to the rescue, twice.

Created with the app Chirp.

Jeff Wright, 16th September 2019

[wrightchatter]

So August is well and truly done!

A Month that brought us Roses, Popstand Is Back, Pizza Hut Treat, Monster By The Sea, Windy, Box Arrival, Hidden Peach Function, Bold 2 Years, Town Chaos, Pupils Wide Open, Damaged F10 Key, Kevin’s Birthday, Steve’s New Bike, Airbourne, Butterfly, Spinning Lucia, Tin Can Alley, Twitter 8 Years, Vapour Trails and many other things.

I’ve captured one memory, sometimes two from each of the thirty one days of the month, and complied them with the app 1 Second Everyday.

Best viewed in landscape mode.

Jeff Wright, 1st September 2019

[wrightchatter]

Dateline: Thursday 22nd August 2019

The day a disaster struck as a stapler came hurtling down from a high place.

Video created with the app Chirp.

Jeff Wright, 24th August 2019

[wrightchatter]

“Ernest Sterzer, born in Vienna, Austria, was three-years-old when diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1928. He began insulin injections immediately following his diagnosis.

When World War II began, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis instigated the Holocaust, a genocide in which approximately six million Jews were killed.

During this time, Hitler’s “Final solution to the Jewish question” saw concentration camps hold millions of prisoners, including Sterzer.

This is the story of how Sterzer survived the Holocaust and what he endured in order to procure the insulin necessary to survive.

Trading bread for insulin

Sterzer arrived at the concentration camp in Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia on October 1, 1942. He had to sleep on cold bare floors, with most of the elderly people around him dying due to the terrible conditions and starvation.

Sterzer was able to obtain insulin through stealing bread in his work at the bakery, which he then gave to a woman found by his mother in exchange for insulin. This woman had to become the mistress of a Czechoslovakian policeman who guarded the ghetto to obtain the insulin.

Departing Theresienstadt on October 15, 1944, Sterzer lost a small camera case holding a syringe, needles and six bottles of insulin while travelling to Birkenau, the Jewish camp of Auschwitz. They arrived on October 17, 1944.

Arriving at Auschwitz

Following two days without insulin, Sterzer fell into a coma overnight and awoke another two days later in a hospital. The doctor in charge, a Russian Jew, had insulin available and despite the use of a rusty needle, Sterzer managed to avoid blood poisoning.

Roughly two weeks later, news spread that Russian troops were advancing on Auschwitz and prisoners would have to be transferred.

Sterzer’s doctor saved him from inevitable death at the hands of SS guards by claiming his illness was due to a “swollen leg” and that he was well enough to be evacuated from Birkenau.

Sterzer also managed to receive a small package of medication from the doctor. This was stolen before the prisoners moved camps, however, and Sterzer again faced travelling without any insulin.

Heinkel Werke

After boarding a cattle train, Sterzer found himself at Heinkel Werke, one of Germany’s largest aeroplane factories. It had been three days since he had injected insulin.

Having arrived at 01:00, prisoner doctors turned up at 07:00 and Sterzer, barely able to stand up, managed to inform one of the doctors about his type 1 diabetes.

He was injected with insulin hours before he would have likely died, and given a bowl of warm soup – the first food he had consumed in three days.

This doctor visited Sterzer every three days to deliver insulin, but his physical condition was declining, and after 10 days at Heinkel, his right leg had swollen to the point where he could not walk.

Sterzer was given a temporary reprieve when he was admitted to a hospital for Jews, but after one week, he was informed the supply of insulin had run out.

Subsequently, Sterzer was told he would again be transferred, this time to Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen.

Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen

Oranienburg had a well-equipped hospital as it was built in 1933, primarily for political and criminal prisoners.

Sterzer had his urine checked twice a day, and his blood sugar once a day. At one point he received a dose of 110 units to bring down his dangerously high blood sugar levels.

After three weeks at Oranienburg, Sterzer’s ear had a constant flow of puss – he was told he had developed a mastoid. The next day, he developed paralysis of the soft palate, in the roof of the mouth and credits his constant prayers as the reason he was still able to talk.

After being pulled from a transport to Bergen-Bergen, where Sterzer would likely have been gassed, he secured a role working in the hospital, handing food to prisoners and washing dishes.

This was abruptly ended when a SS guard discovered a Jew was working in the hospital. This led to Sterzer receiving a beating he referred to as “one of the worst I have ever experienced.”

Oranienburg evacuation

After being given a syringe and some insulin by a male nurse, Sterzer and the rest of the prisoners were evacuated from Oranienburg.

Sterzer was made to walk 16 hours a day on what became known as a “death march”, with any prisoner shot if they were unable to keep up the pace.

On the morning of May 2, 1945, the last SS guard had left Sterzer’s group, with American and Germany troops fighting in Schwerin, a town roughly two miles north of their location.

Sterzer took the chance to escape and found two American soldiers who took him in and provided medical treatment.

Arriving back in Vienna

Upon arriving back in Vienna three weeks later, Sterzer discovered his father had been gassed at Auschwitz. His mother also died in the concentration camps, while his brother was able to return to Vienna.

In Vienna’s leading hospitals, no insulin was available, with the concentration camps among the only places that Sterzer would have been able to get insulin.

Sterzer went blind in 1953 due to haemorrhages suffered at the hands of SS guards and complications due to his lack of ability to inject insulin daily.

He went on to set up the Superior Addressing & Mailing Service in New York City with the help of his seeing-dog, Sheila.

Ernest Sterzer died on May 1, 1973.

The information in this blog was adapted from Ernest Sterzer’s memoirs published here.

Picture credit: http://www.dlife.com “

[wrightchatter]

July is over!

A Month that brought us Stranger at the Door, Cool Blue, Train & Sunset, Spiderweb, Caroline North Weekend, 31°C, Minnie Seen A Cat, Website Control, Sewing Task, Traffic Lights, Jeffrey Infestation, Bluebells, Diaspora and many other things.

Best viewed in landscape mode.

Created with the app 1 Second Everyday.

Jeff Wright, 31st July 2019

[wrightchatter]

That was June!

A Month that brought us Cascading Willows, Ants, 2.2 Grrr, Peach Coloured Rose, Hello Beautiful, Jet Streams, ‘Y’ Tree, Rabbit Ringo, New Fan, Blue’s Birthday, Popstand on Twitter, Rain & Puddles, Sky Cleaner, Blue the Alien Falls to Earth, New Microphone, Chasing Cat, Lucia’s Cupcakes, 28°C, Benji Clone, D-Day 75, Barking Bike, Only Fools & Horses and many other things.

Best viewed in landscape mode.

Created with the app 1 Second Everyday

Jeff Wright

30th June 2019

[wrightchatter]

Wonderful May is done, and what a month it was!

A Month that brought us Benji Collecting Post, Where’s the Troops, Doris Day 1922-2019, Jeffrey’s Birthday Chant, Bradley in Town, Slow Pedestrians, Polling Day x2, Church Bells, Genies Branch Out, Boat On The Thames, Trolley In River, New Work Router, Sunset, Minnie’s New Bed, Snail In A Rush, 9,008 Emails, Lauren’s Broken Sky Q Box and many other things.

Video complied with the app 1 Second Everyday.

Best viewed in landscape mode.

Jeff Wright

2nd June 2019