Hillwalker News 2004/04
New Licence Agreement - New Website
In this Newsletter
- Events
- Product News
- Special Offer
- New Licence Agreement
- Hill News
- Computer / Science News
- New Website <<<<<
- Ancient Nags
Ne'er cast clout till May's oot! Such was the advice to wrap up well in spring. What my granny never told me was whether the May was the hawthorn blossom or the month. Either way, May 2004 was a fantastic month for walking, an more often in short trousers than long.
There has been a long pause in the newsletter distribution. ISYS is slowly returning to normal.
7 June - BCS Glasgow
ISYS will be providing a slide show from The High Alps at the AGM during coffee.
24 to 26 June 2004 ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOW, Ingleston
ISYS will be on the Ordnance Survey stand at the Show near Edinburgh. Come and meet us there (yes, the Webmaster will be there too).
4 to 7 July 2004 STONELEIGH ROYAL SHOW, Warwickshire
ISYS will be on the Ordnance Survey stand at the Show. Come and meet us there.
13 July 2004 Borders Bookstore, Buchanan Street Glasgow - The High Alps
Come and see the very latest product from ISYS. The High Alps is a joint venture with Martin Moran. This will be worth it just to see the photographs and the video clips. There will be more about this program in the next Newsletter.
19 to 22 July ROYAL WELSH SHOW, Builth
ISYS will be on the Ordnance Survey Stand at the Show in Builth (officially Builth Wells but no one uses the Wells and it's pronounced Bilth, so now you know!)
All Hillwalker with OS maps, Hillwalker with Harvey maps and all MapWise (Deluxe, 250, Standard and International) are now released at version 5. Only the Hillwalker Lites remain at version 4. There is a free upgrade for all version 4 programs in all version 5 programs. The easy way to upgrade a version 4 hillwalker is to get the corresponding version 5 MapWise Deluxe with the OS Landranger maps.
The Munros - upgrade with Mapwise Deluxe MUNRO MAPS at £25 or SCOTLAND at £65.
Lakeland Fells - upgrade with MapWise Deluxe LAKES and PENNINES at £25 of ENGLAND NORTH at £65.
Mountains of Wales - upgrade with MapWise Deluxe WALES at £25 or GREAT BRITAIN and MAN at £185.
You can order on the Website.
Explorer maps are due in July. Details of these maps and The High Alps will be in the next newsletter.
Because it was not possible to run down all stocks together, we have a lot of version 4 Mountains of Wales and Version 4 The Corbetts CDs. These are on special offer to our readers during June only for just £9.50 each or £17.50 for both, less than half price. These are unboxed but it is a great way for MapWise users to experience the joys of Hillwalker. These will integrate with MapWise even if your maps do not cover the same area. To order, visit the website and use the Special Instructions to get these prices.
The new licence agreement allows all ISYS outdoor software to be run without the CD in the drive. Whilst we cannot retrospectively enforce a License Agreement, existing users are welcome to operate under the new Agreement if they wish!
Loch na Gaire
Flame retardent chemicals have been found at 785m in Loch na Gaire, the loch of laughter. The summits near Loch na Gaire are Cac Càrn Mòr and Cac Càrn Beag. Those who have The Munros will already know that careless usage has transported the name of this high lochan to be the name of the hill, Lochnagar. Perhaps the laughter was because some local worthy many years ago, when asked what was the name of the hill, answered in the Gaelic, Cac Càrn Mòr, a big pile of excrement. Cac Càrn Beag is a smaller pile of the same substance. These names have now become established and the original Beinn nan Ciochan consigned to a footnote.
Incidentally, the word cac, in the west of Scotland at least, has moved into the English and is used as both a verb and a noun. I just thought you might like to know!
Seriously, the chemical problem is an issue and quite widespread. Recently, polar bears have been found to be contaminated. Perhaps heather burning will become a thing of the past.
Everest
Congratulation to Vicky Jack, from Perthshire, who planted a Saltire on top of Mount Everest. Vicky at 51 is the oldest UK woman to summit.
Ticking Everest also gives her the highest peaks in all seven continents, the first Scots woman to do so and a feat achieved by fewer than 100 mountaineers.
Longhorn
Bill Gates has announced that Longhorn, the 64 bit Windows, will be launched in 2005 but without the complete set of planned features.
Venus
Don't miss the transit of Venus on Tuesday. The last one was in 1882 but there will be another in just eight years.
Astonomers in the late eighteen century used the transit then to get a scale for the solar system. Until then they could work out the ratios of everything but there was no way to actually measure any distance. They observed the transit from many points on the Earth and this gave them triangles with an Earth baseline which could be measured with a tape measure. The distances to Venus and the Sun, and hence everywhere else, were then calulated. Now, we just use radar. Where is the romanticism?
To view the transit, use a telescope or a binocular to project the sun's image on to a piece of paper. It is not a good idea to view the sun directly.
What is a Munro?
Sir Hugh was asked to find all hills over 3,000ft in Scotland. Now we use 914.4m. What I discovered only recently was that 914.4 is an exact number. The yard (and hence the foot) is now defined in terms of the metre and has been for about 40 years. A yard is exactly 0.9144 of a metre. Originally the yard was the distance from the nose of Henry I of England to his thumb. It then became the distance between two marks on a platinum bar.
I left it to last because I know you will want to rush off and have a look immediately but you would also want to read the newsletter.
ISYS have a new website: www.mapwise.org.uk. this is a hand crafted website, none of your Frontpage or Dreamweaver here. It is "Powered by Notepad".
Do let us know what you think of it. This would be an excellent discussion for the Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillwalker - anyone with an interest in the outdoors is welcome to join.
Now I suppose we must start to update the Hillwalker site.
Please, when mailing ISYS, alway put your User Number in the subject line. With the amount of spam that there is around, a thousand e-mails get deleted every week so each one gets only a very short time for a decision. We want to read yours, so please follow this simple rule.
The other ancient nag: If you change your email address, please tell us so that you can continue to receive the Newsletter.
Walk long and safely,
Iain R White
ISYS Support
http://www.hillwalker.org.uk
http://www.mapwise.org.uk
0845 166 5701 (local call cost)
HUMOUR?
A young man was walking through a super market to pick up a few things when he noticed an old lady following him. "Pardon me," she said. "I'm sorry if my staring at you has made you feel uncomfortable. It's just that you look just like my son, who died recently." "I'm very sorry," replied the young man, "is there anything I can do for you?" "Yes," she said, "as I'm leaving, would you say 'Goodbye, mother?' It would make me feel so much better." "Sure," answered the young man. As the old woman was leaving, he called out, "Goodbye, Mother!" Then, as he stepped up to the checkout counter, he saw that his total was £127.00. "How can that be?" he asked. "I only purchased a few things!" The clerk replied, "Your mother said you'd pay for her."
