General Witterings -
Digiboxes and The East on Rosy

I've had several queries about the Sat(ellite) TV, so herewith the complete (so far) story.

I bought a Sky digibox.  Most folk get theirs for free, by signing a service contract with Sky.  Cheap ones are available second hand, but these are, often, stolen 'free' boxes.  A new, 'legal' box costs about £200.  There are several makes, but they all cost the same.  They also all have the same functionality.  The Pace machine is different from (to?) all the rest as it is a bit smaller.

Connecting the digibox to the TV and the dish is not tricky at all.  Providing a support for the dish takes a bit of thinking about, remembering that, on a boat that cruises, the dish will often have to be realigned.  We've made extensive use of wing-nuts and spring washers so that adjustments can be made without the use of spanners (wrenches for any US readers.  NO, UK readers - NOT 'wenches' ... 'wrenches')

Lining-up the dish proved to be remarkably easy.  I have a table showing the approximate direction and elevation of satellites for each department in France (it came with the dish).  And I have a 'Signal Strength Audio meter' - a swinging needle and a particularly irritating noise indicate how strong a signal one is getting from the satellite.  One roughly aims the dish according to the table, and then swings it methodically, seeking the maximum signal.  Et voilà!!!  The sole problem was using the compass to align the dish - Rosy is built of steel, so we had to stand-off a bit.

Aimed at the Sky satellite, and without any card at all, Sky news, MotorsTV, The Fashion Channel and quite a few others were available (lots of shopping and God channels), as were some radio channels, including the BBC.

One then needs someone with a UK address and a TV licence to quote your digibox number etc. to a UK telephone number, who will send them a 'Free to View' card.  Licensing agreements mean that this is for use in the UK only.  The Free to View card pulls in all the BBC TV channels (though as from June, these will be available without need of a card) and a movie channel (older films - I've seen Big John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Bridge on the River Kway etc. etc.).  Other channels are also there.

Personally, I'm using the digibox mainly to pull in BBC radio.

Very few problems.  Currently, the dish is looking out over the side of Rosy, so if I move right over to one side, the dish loses the satellite signal.

At the moment the sound is coming out of a tiny tinny portable TV speaker, but I'm hoping to improve on this in the near future.

So.  I've now seen war on TV for the first time, and I guess at some time I'll finally get to see the 'planes flying into the World Trade Centre.  The things us TV-less people have been deprived of!!

Whilst fixing the satellite dish in position, I made an annoying discovery.  It is always annoying when folk make easy things difficult, and it's particularly annoying that I've rumbled this one so late in life.  I admit to not having paid close attention to life all the time - after all, there are far better things to do.  However, I had sort of assumed that a spanner (wrench not wench) marked 10mm was for use with a 10mm bolt.  WRONG.  It is for use with a bolt (or nut) that is 10mm across the faces!!!  So what size bolt needs a 10mm spanner?  Or, the more usual question, What size spanner (wrench not wench) does a 6mm bolt need?  The answer is/are that a 6mm bolt needs a 10mm spanner (wrench not wench).  This stupidity led me into buying the wrong sized wing nuts - not only wasting the cash, but requiring a second, one hour walk to the nearest nuttery to get the right sized ones.  Which left me in dire need of a wench (not wrench).

Dogs are very useful on occasions such as this, as one can take one's temper out on them, without them seeming to mind to much.  So Fanny got a verbal ear-battering for a few minutes, and still sat on my lap.

Perhaps she is a prospective lap-dancer?

(Short break:  Poor Fanny.  She's been out on the foredeck all afternoon, but has been seriously whinging for the past ten minutes.  All she's heard from me is "Shurrup" and the like.  I now discover the problem.  It is POURING down with rain, and she is wet through.  But why is the rain not drumming on the roof?  Am I going deaf?

With all this nonsense going on in Iraq, and having lived in Oman for six years, I thought that the following notes might be useful.

Arabic Names.

Most Arabs have but one name.  Most of the names used appear in the Koran, and many of them are pseudonyms for God (there are said to be 100 pseudonyms, of which humans know 99.  The 100th is known only to the camels, which explains their supercilious smirk).

Boys are identified by their name, their father's name, their father's father's name and their family name.

Hence Mohammed bin Mohammed bin Abdul-Rahman al Shanfari is Mohammed, son of (bin) Mohammed who was the son of (bin) Abdul-Rahman of the al Shanfari family.

His sister would be Amina bint Mohammed bin Abdul-Rahman al Shanfari.  Most girls names end with an 'a', and 'bint' means 'daughter of'.

'Abdul' is sometimes a name in itself (it means 'slave') but it is often linked with one of the pseudonyms of God, so 'Abdul-Rahman' means 'slave of the Merciful one'.  Abdullah is 'slave of God'.

Some people will change their name.  So the grandfather (Abdul-Rahman), when his son Mohammed was born, could adopt the name Abu Mohammed , 'abu' being the Arabic for 'father'.

Similarly, 'umm' is Arabic for 'mother', so Umm Kalthoun (a famous Arabic singer) is Mother of Kalthoun (though I don't know what 'kalthoun' is  - music, or singing, maybe?)

Nicknames are seldom used

Sheikhs.

In days gone by, extended pastoral families would choose a sheikh.  The choice would be made by a meeting of the family, and the decision would be by acclamation!!  The sheikh would be leader of his family, and would also have control over land.

Over the years, it has become normal for the sons of a sheikh to use the title 'sheikh', and for their sons likewise.  The acclamation process has tended to die out, and the sheikhdom tends, now, to pass down to a close relation of the dead sheikh.  Who, precisely, inherits the sheikhdom is decided by the sheikhly family.  As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia demonstrates, the succession is not necessarily passed to the eldest son - it could be to a brother of the deceased, or a younger son.  The family will decide who is most suitable.

Religion.

Tricky.  So I'll be careful.

Not all Arabs are Moslem, and not all Moslems are Arabs.

The Moslem Holy Book was 'revealed' to Mohammed by the Angel Gabriel ('Jibreel' in Arabic).  Over a period of 23 years, Mohammed went up a mountain where another chapter would be revealed to him.  The Moslem belief is that the Koran is, literally, the Word of God.  Hence any non-Arabic speaking Muslim would want to learn Arabic, in order to directly access the Word of God.

By 'God' the Moslems mean the same entity that Jews and Christians refer to as God.

Moslems acknowledge Jesus as an important prophet, but do not accept his divinity.  They also mistrust the Christian 'Three in One' doctrine as they see it as polytheism.

They disagree with the Jews and Christians as to which son Abraham was willing to sacrifice to God.  Jews and Christians believe that it was Isaac, Moslems believe that it was Ishmail.

In the same way that Christians still maintain some pagan practices (such as bringing greenery - holly and mistletoe - into the house in mid-winter/Christmas), so within the Islamic traditions there are practices that Christians now tend to associate with Islam, but some of which pre-date Islam, and may be seen as relics of paganism.  In particular, female circumcision.  Many of the female dress codes may also be seen to culturally pre-date Islam, which, for men and women, demands merely cleanliness and modesty.

Er ...  I think that's enough for now.

Toodle pip!!

Bill