Ceud Mìle Fàilte
Thank you for dropping-by, I hope you enjoy your visit. The main content is to be found in the blog, where I discuss everything and anything, but, topics including: photography, nature, technology, food, movies, music, politics, and life in the Highlands of Scotland, make regular appearances.
I commonly write reviews of movies (or films, if you prefer). Some movie reviews are short, others will be discussed in more detail. The scope covered will be mainly mainstream English language movies from the 1930s until the present day.
About me
My name is Iain MacDonald, and I live in the Highlands of Scotland (although I have lived elsewhere in the past). I use Fitheach as my online pseudonym, on this website, on Mastodon, and on Matrix. I am a big fan of Free & Open Source Software, which I use both professionally and at home.
Computing and technology tend to infuse themselves into my other interests, as once you learn some skills in one area it is convenient to use them to solve problems in other spheres.
When not tinkering with computers, I am likely to be found repairing things because living in the countryside you learn to be resourceful.
Of course, man doesn't live by SSH tunnels and kerosene vapour burners alone, so, food, as a subject, makes regular appearances, too.
My latest Life articles
My most recent ramblings can be found in the Life section.
My latest Mastodon posts
Mastodon is a microblogging app that is part of the decentralised web known as The Fediverse. See this article for more details.
Fitheach
Thu, 18 Jun 2026 10:56:53 +0000
June is the month of orchids in my part of the #Highlands. On to-day's #DogWalk I was seeing orchids everywhere. In particular, there are lots of these Common Spotted Orchids (Urach bhallach - Dactylorhiza fuchsii) shown in the attached photos. They have a preference for a moist, boggy environment. We have no shortage of boggy places this June. 😃
#Scotland #nature #flowers #photography #blumen #fleurs
Wed, 17 Jun 2026 12:52:34 +0000
I was looking for some duplicate images in amongst thousands of images. I didn't find this functionality in any of my usual image viewers.
That's when I discovered "findimagedupes". It's a command line program to find "visually similar or duplicate images". This is better than something inside an image viewer, as findimagedupes can be included in scripts.
Example:
findimagedupes -R -- .
[Compare images in all subdirectories of the current directory.]
https://github.com/jhnc/findimagedupes
Wed, 17 Jun 2026 08:04:50 +0000
I replied to a post by George Monbiot because I thought he was on Fedi.
Nope! Wrong!
I missed the "bsky" bit in his address. He is really on Bluesky, and uses a bridging account.
I won't make that mistake again.
Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:32:02 +0000
The sites I linked to in my previous post have resources (videos, articles, scientific papers, book recommendations, and more) in English, Deutsch, and Français.
There are also lists of trainers adhering to non-aversive techniques.
Thank you!
Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:05:19 +0000
Please Boost.
Your dog is your friend.
You don't hit your friends.
The best way to train your dog is with positive reinforcement. You want to develop and encourage teamwork with your dog.
Hitting your dog only hurts your pal, and lessens the bond between you.
Unfortunately, aversive techniques (generating fear in dogs) get a lot of media attention. Help redress balance and make life better for dogs by sharing.
https://www.fairplaymithund.ch
https://www.forcefree-dogtraining.org/
Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:09:00 +0000
It had to be done. 😃
I've made the photo my Xfce Desktop Wallpaper.
Thanks to Windows XP for the inspiration.