thebpc-hertfordshire

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Historical Novelisation

Our latest project is proofreading a book translated from Swedish and we're currently about 1/3 of the way through the first pass. Researched and written in line with documented facts of who, where and what happened 1000 years ago, the book novelises the characters and their adventures, bringing them to life for readers in a way that most history books fail to capture.

We'll keep you updated nearer the publication date.

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

Translation...

"I'm an Igor, sir. We don't ask questions."

"Really? Why not?"

"I don't know, sir. I didn't ask."

A Personal Note: Celebrating 900 Posts*

"I'm an Igor, thur. We don't athk quethtionth."

"Really? Why not?"

"I don't know, thur. I didn't athk."

Terry Pratchett, Making Money

*A Rare Personal Note: In honor of the 900th quote I have shared on this inconsistent, inimitable, genuinely joyous blog, I thought I should do what I normally do. That is, I went looking for one of the many profound, jarring, thought-provoking Pratchian quotes that draw so many of us back to his books again and again. And then I opened Making Money and abruptly changed my mind. Because let's be honest: Yes, we come back to Sir Terry for the insights and the head tilts and the moments that make us go "hmm" out loud, awkwardly, when we are in a silent train car. But that's not all. I may stay true to Discworld because it makes me think -- but I fell in love with Discworld because Terry Pratchett makes me laugh. Fifteen years later, I'm still laughing. So in honor of our 900th quote in common, let's celebrate the punchlines. If we have learnt nothing else from Pratchett, we know that laughing at the world makes it bearable to live in.

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

Help an author to find a book!

I'm searching for a book...

The novel opens with a murder occurring on my birthday (October). Other coincidences are:

One of the main characters shared my surname (Cummins).

The plot involved the discovery of a long-lost schoolfriend whose name is Michael Collins - this was the name of my first real ‘best friend’ when I was young, and he lived in the same county, too!

The main character is a lawyer based in chambers in London, if that helps. I’ve searched the Internet for a novel that references any of these characters but, so far, zilch.

It's not a new book. When I read it, I was frequently travelling, therefore I bought, read and disposed of two or more books in the same week. Unfortunately, I no longer have this one and cannot even remember the title or the name of the author. I’d be delighted if anyone has any suggestions as to what the book might be.

Thank you, readers!

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

Despite many complaints about bad landlords, it's currently easier to find somebody to rent your property than to find a potential buyer.

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

The first mobile phone call was made on this day in 1973. Martin Cooper, using a prototype of the Motorola DynaTAC, placed a call from the streets of New York to Bell Labs in New Jersey. The device was 9 inches tall, had a talk-time of 35 minutes, and took 10 hours to recharge.

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

Are you watching the Paris 2024 Olympics? Here's a little history of the song "Les Champs-Elyseés" including lyrics (French & English).

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And Again? - the sequel

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Written by one of our clients...

Remember Graham, our time-traveller from My Time Again? He's about to embark on a new adventure in the sequel. If you haven't read the original story, the book is available from Amazon in paperback or kindle versions: https://amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B08LSRKY1Z/allbooks

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

Review of the TV series.

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

new website created for client - signcraft.co.uk

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

Anything here for you?

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it'll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I'd recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn't read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can't for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You'll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It's genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

We published this earlier this year... Social Media data for business.

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

AI in business and marketing - for beginners. You can also use these free AI apps for fun!

[thebpc-hertfordshire]

Intro to Ian Cummins' latest novel, just released, available from Amazon books.

It can be surprising just how mundane the last few hours of a life can be. “I’m feeling tired, I think I’ll go to bed early,” Ron said, getting up from his chair and putting the newspaper into the wastepaper basket. “Oh yes, you had that experiment today, didn’t you?” Sheila replied, remembering that these events at work always made him weary. “How did it go?” “It didn’t work at all the first couple of times, but it went well enough the third time. I’ve got to tell you, going through it multiple times was very tiring.” Ever since he had attended the presentation entitled Secrecy and Security, he was careful to have only the briefest of chats with his wife about his work. She respected that and did not press him any further. “OK, I’ll be up later, good night,” was all she said. It was way too early for her to even think about going to bed, but she checked up on him half an hour later, using only the light from her mobile phone in the darkened bedroom to be sure not to wake him. He was fast asleep. When she finally went to bed a couple of hours later, she was immediately worried when seeing him in exactly the same position he had been earlier on – and decided to run the risk of waking him by touching his cheek. It was unnaturally cold. Using the training her father had given her, she felt his wrist and realised there was no pulse. But a doctor’s daughter does not panic. She performed CPR whilst using her mobile phone to call first her father, and then the emergency services. She had worried whether her and Ron moving so close to her parents would bring problems, but it never had done – and now she was only too grateful for their proximity. Her father reached her in a record ten minutes – well before the arrival of an ambulance, and he immediately examined Ron. He hesitated briefly before telling her that her efforts were wasted. Ron was dead. The only difference that resulted from her father being a qualified doctor and responding so quickly, was that the official date on Ron’s death certificate was recorded as October 7th. For all the others it was recorded as October 8th.

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100 posts!

4 followers... hmm... maybe another follower when I post the next 25? 

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I've read these at least twice (very light reading): The Matchmaker of Perigord, Ready Player One, Good Omens, The Amazing Maurice ... to name but a few.

So Good I read it twice...

I was asked what books I had read twice; these include: - Earth Abides – George R. Stewart - The Stand – Stephen King - Lord of The Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien - The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham - Big Deal – Anthony Holden - Smiley’s People – John Le Carre - Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris

Please let me know in the comments which books were so good that you read them twice.

You can read the post in full here https://iancumminsauthor.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/so-good-i-read-it-twice/