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
Wed, 23 Sep 2026 19:22:39 +0000
My music collection is saved in Ogg and Opus. However, my car can only play MP3 from a USB stick. So, I'm converting a copy of my music collection to MP3 using ffmpeg. There are nearly 20,000 files. This may take a long, long time.
Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:30:00 +0000
I'm thinking I should rename this account the Unusual Motorhome Compendium. 😃
This was (on the outside, at least) the most basic of motorhome conversions. The photo shows a small 40cm wide window along one side. On the other (unseen) side there was a full-height door, without a window. It must be very dark inside when relying on daylight.
I'm not sure this motorhome has any redeeming features.
Wed, 23 Sep 2026 08:19:45 +0000
Hanomag has a long history, founded in 1871. The company takes its name from their primary location in Hannover, Germany. Since 2002 the company has been a subsidiary of Komatsu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanomag
Wed, 23 Sep 2026 08:03:10 +0000
Continuing my theme of photographing monster trucks converted to monster motorhomes. I'm fairly sure I've never seen a Hanomag before.
I sincerely hope they have ladders to get in the back, and, particularly for that top-box.
The paintwork had the appearance of having been done with a brush.
Fri, 18 Sep 2026 11:53:50 +0000
I didn't realise that the car computer would notice there was a problem with the trailer's turn indicator, and give a warning to the driver. That's really useful.
Now, all I need to do is identify the problem, because it isn't the bulb. 🙄
Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:07:43 +0000
You thought I was joking:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwyzrr9d3dko