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
Sat, 14 Jun 2025 21:48:00 +0000
The epic poem, upon which the film is loosely based, has no such plot hole. Grendel was just motivated by being a badass, as is the nature of all trolls (actually a eoten).
Sat, 14 Jun 2025 21:25:56 +0000
Currently watching "Beowulf & Grendel" (2005).
It bothers me that there is an enormous plot hole in the movie.
The king of the Danes and his men kill Grendel's father with arrows, and he then falls over a cliff. Grendel then seeks revenge on the Danes. Beowulf comes to the aid of the Danes. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, as a troll's skin cannot be pierced by mortal weapons.
Wait a minute.... what about those arrows?
Sat, 14 Jun 2025 13:09:22 +0000
There is lots of road resurfacing work going on just now. The pictured road planer has been parked for the weekend, ready for use again on Monday.
I think the design has a Star Wars vibe, something like a short-legged Imperial Walker. 😃
#StarWars #Highlands #Scotland
Sun, 01 Jun 2025 17:06:19 +0000
Just returned from a performsnce of Mahler's Third Symphony, by The Mahler Players, in The Strathpeffer Pavillion.. It was excellent.
We managed to miss the first movement because there was no parking to be had anywhere. Eventually, someone departed and we managed to park.
I've never heard the Third before. It was quite an experience. The choral section was particularly novel. The ending was very dramatic.
Sat, 31 May 2025 10:18:35 +0000
Got my new kilt pin.
It has a raven on it, of course. 😃
#Highlands #Scotland #ClanDonald
Sat, 24 May 2025 14:06:26 +0000
I quite often want to share a URL from my Desktop PC to any 'phone or tablet. There is a simple way to do it using a QR Code.
This technique requires the use of qrencode and feh (two really useful #FOSS programs you should be using anyway).
This example uses my website as the URL 😃
qrencode -o - -l H -d 300 -t PNG https://fitheach.scot | feh -
Scan the displayed QR Code using the other device. Most 'phones and tablets recognise QR Codes, and pass them to the browser.