Tuesday 19 January 2016

BASHWORKZ.COM NOW ON TWITTER !!!


Just a quick post to let everyone know that my website www.bashworkz.com is now on Twitter !!!

You can follow me on www.twitter.com/bashworkz

Saturday 29 August 2015

E Sim Suna Multiplayer Online browser based Battle MMOG game



Join here and get BONUS GOLD when you reach level 7 : https://suna.e-sim.org/lan.132698/

Tuesday 16 June 2015

Tbilisi Floods 13-14th June 2015 - My view of things as a resident in Tbilisi, Georgia

It has been broadcast on news channels around the world over the last few days, but the scale of what has happened here in Tbilisi has wounded the Georgian people (and the other nationalities living here) more than you can possibly imagine.

Sure, there have been much bigger floods, storms, earthquakes and other natural disasters around the world even in recent years, but when you live in a city like Tbilisi like I do, you really do get a first hand understanding of what a country's culture is about.

Short clip :




Saturday nights storm was not the first we have had in Tbilisi over the last week. The weather was crazy for a week before that with 2 or 3 BIG storms all overnight that I believe contributed to what happened on the 4th storm on the 13th and 14th June (Saturday night / Sunday morning).

The Vere River is honestly normally a shallow stream that barely moves. It runs through a valley with mountains (ok fairly steep hills that are damn hard to walk up if you wanted to) on either side. The river and valley flow into a meandering section that enters the Vake and Saburtalo districts on the West of Tbilisi city. The river then enters the central Mtkvari (or Kura) River (dont ask me why the Mtkvari has 2 names i have no idea).

During heavy rain, the Mtkvari River is normally the one to swell pretty heavily, and I think it was 1-2 years ago while I have been here, there was 1 instance of it breaking its banks on the South-East side of the city. There was some damage caused there, but I think is fair to say it was incomparable to what we saw on Sunday early morning.

From various reliable news sites, tv reports, and from what others have told me as well, the basics of what caused such massive destruction on this occasion started upstream in the Tskneti / Betania / Akhaldaba villages which lie up the Mtatsminda mountain through the valley and on the left side.

The agenda.ge website states this :

After heavy rain and hail, which started around 22:00 on June 13 and continued for several hours, the landslide carrying 1 million cubic meters of land and mud careered down the hillside and into the Vere River valley, near Akhaldaba village, about 20km from the capital Tbilisi.

My personal view is the ground had already been weakened and heavily soaked during the previous 2 or 3 prolonged overnight storms we had during the 5 days before.

They then go on to say :

The mudflow flooded the riverbed, causing a natural dam to form. Soon after the water level quickly rose and the water mass broke the dam, sending a huge torrent of water crashing towards Tbilisi.

This video from the Georgian Ministry of the Environment shows the sequence of events and where it hit the city :



On Sunday morning I woke up to see and hear from people on facebook, the full scale of what had happened. As any Englishman would, I had to go to help, or at least to see if people were ok.

I live only about 10mins walk from the Zoo which was the centre of attention for the news broadcasts, and animal-loving Tbilisians. The warnings about Hippos, Lions, Tigers etc etc loose on the streets were everywhere. The road to Hero Square was blocked for cars by Police by the Holiday Inn hotel, and by the Georgian Public Broadcasters building for people. Not speaking very much Georgian I decided to walk through one of the side-roads to try and help further up the river where the flood had come from. My first sight was opposite Saburtalo/Vake Police Station (luckily it is on a hill), but even then the destruction was clear. Some form of bridge that runs alongside the road has been mangled, with trees, debris, mud and even a car at least 10-20 foot higher than the normal river level hanging from the remains of this bridge. The Fire Service, Army, Police, as well as recovery vehicles, trucks etc etc were already hard at work. I think their main priority was firstly to rescue any people which had become trapped or injured, and also to clear the river path of debris to reduce the risk of further flooding.

I looked around me, and just stood in pure shock for at least 1 hour thinking how the hell are they going to clear this up. I could do nothing really to help, this was a task for some heavy machinery, skilled army and fire services to do anything that would really help. A broom was just not what was needed at that stage!!!

You can see my pictures on My Facebook Album HERE

After I had collected my thoughts I decided the best thing I could do was to continue up the river to where I knew there were some low-lying homes on the side of the river, to see if people there were ok, or needed any help. I walked up the new, but now badly damaged dual carriageway to get there. It took me 20mins to get there passing a partially destroyed Medical Centre, lots of destroyed cars that had been thrown around like toys, and onto the comparatively lower land where people lived. Destroyed homes and peoples belongings just built up as I walked down there, I saw the first home still standing on one meandering corner of the river and met Lali. Lali I would find out later in the day is in her late 60s, has a sister who I also met who lived either with Lali or next door, and I also met the neighbours as well. First thing was to see if she was ok and if she needed anything. She said she was ok (i think.. my georgian not very good), i could see she was still in shock so gestured to her if she needed anything like water or food. She said yes so my task then was totry and find a shop where I could get some!!

I walked for what seemed about an hour upstream towards the main road where I knew there was a petrol station and possibly some shops where I could get some water and food to take back. Fully loaded I headed back to Lali's house. There seemed to be plenty of other people doing a similar thing as me for other people which was so nice to see Georgians doing what they could to help another Georgian!

Khachapuri and water in hand I got back to Lali's home. She tried to explain to me what actually happened, how her garden now is 5-10 metres less now as the river pulled her fruit and vegetable plants away. I saw for myself big cracks across what was even left of the garden to know she has been very fortunate!

While I was there other people came and as I understand some people i think (hope) including Lali and her sister were going to be moved at least temporarily away from the river. After a couple of hours I gave Lali my phone number telling her if she had any problems or needed anything just to call me and say 'Is Lali, i have problem!!' and I will come.

I made my way home, it had been maybe 7 hours I had been out. Hundreds more people were near the Holiday inn where the police had blocked the road access in the morning.

On Monday it was an official Day of Mourning, however we were all back in the office as usual. We broadcast the TV stations to many people in not only Georgia but internationally too, therefore it was very important to keep people updated on the progress of finding people, recovering the animals from the zoo of which some were still loose on the streets somewhere, and coordination of relief efforts with supplies, and the thousands of people who were now helping to clear up after the disaster.

It is now Tuesday 16th June and I can still hear helicopters flying overhead. Slightly surprising maybe as the latest news says the Lions, Tigers etc had all now been accounted for, the only animal they believe may be out there is a Jaguar, but odds would suggest now it has not survived. The only other reason I can think for helicopters still flying at this time (21.40) is some nerves as we did have just a little bit of rain earlier, there was another landslide on the mountain last night which I think volunteers have helped clear from the river, and just people still a bit on edge after what has happened.

If I have time after work in the next few days I will do my best to go down there again to see if I can help for a few hours with anything, and I will also at some point pay another visit to Lali to make sure she is ok.

Im not a religious person really, but I will remember those who died (people AND animals), and put a candle in one of the local churches as well probably at the weekend.

This next video was broadcast last night on Georgian TV and covers everything in more detail, with interviews in Georgian and yet more content of the recovery so far.

Full Documentary of the Tbilisi Flood and Recovery (yes it is in Georgian but the pictures and video speaks for itself) :

Sunday 3 May 2015

My new website www.bashworkz.com - A Unix System Administrator Journey

I decided to start a new website a few weeks ago. Something I could use to publish my skills, products, views, and also to be a basic blog of hints and tips of the things I know.

www.bashworkz.com


As well as a DJ, my professional job is a Unix System Administrator. I have worked for reasonably large companies including Hewlett Packard on a UK Ministry of Defence contract, as well as the UK 4th largest Tour Operator, and hard copy and internet Business Directoty.

My skills are therefore varied!! Over the last few years I have taken those skills abroad and now work in the Republic of Georgia where I am System Administrator for the largest media portal in the country. This has added to my skillset and exposure to yet another new area. As well as doing my regular day job here I am also a freelance developer and administrator for clients in the UK, USA, and Europe.

I supply Technical Support services, as well as hosting services for Internet Radio (through my Drumandbasslines.com website), which also is a promotional outlet for DJs, Labels, and Producers to advertise their electronic music releases or events.

The point of my new website bashworks.com is fairly simple. With the experience I have, I have plenty of knowledge which could be of use to others, so I want to share it.

DocuScan - Document Management System


I have also written a product originally for an american client, but it has the functionality to be useful for a wide range of businesses. The core of it is a Document Management System. A solution for keeping ALL of your documentation and correspondence in a single system. There are 1000s of tools which attempt to do this, but what makes mine different is it can totally remove the need to store physical paperwork. Using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) my system enables you to simply scan in your documents, have the system convert the paper into readable, searchable, indexed documents. This functionality solves some core business requirements. For example my client uses it to ensure COMPLIANCE with US laws, to ensure that he does not break any laws (and therefore get sued) for not following correct procedures when contacting his clients. You can check the product (DocuScan) on the website!!

www.bashworkz.com

Check out the site and let me know what you think !

Wednesday 18 February 2015

MX - Gliding in Gudauri, Georgia - 15th February 2015



MX - Gliding in Gudauri, Georgia - 15th February 2015: http://youtu.be/XwN5j7SGXZo #gudauri #ski #paragliding #georgia #caucasus #mountain

Tuesday 7 October 2014

OMG - TRULY HORRIFIC RAW FOOTAGE CRASH - JULES BIANCHI - JAPANESE GRAND ...

How on earth did he survive that !!! Pray to god he is ok, but has to be said that the safety measures in place in the car have clearly done some good as HE IS ALIVE and after seeing that you would NEVER have thought anyone could survive that!!


However the bosses of Formula 1 have a lot to answer for even letting the race start in those terrible conditions !! It would not be inappropriate to raise CRIMINAL charges against the organisers for putting excessive risks on the drivers.

GET WELL SOON JULES AND GOOD LUCK !!! HOPE YOU ARE OK !!!

Monday 10 December 2012

Review of 2012

Wow how fast a year goes by !!!

Its been another year of experiences for me, having spent the freezing temperatures of winter in Kyiv, Ukraine to the heat of the summer in Tbilisi, Georgia !!

Starting the year in Kiev brought another Drum and Basslines party this time to Xlib Club and to headline the event we brought Doc Scott over from the UK. It took a long time to find someone who would fit the bill for the Ukranian market and there were possibly better options available but nobody else that could fit in with my pricing structure. The party as a whole went fine, although out of the 4 parties we have held so far my favourite has to be the one we did with Raiden and Mutated Forms, closely followed by the first with James (Unknown Error) Gash.

Anyway after the party in Kyiv it was time for another flight back to Tbilisi. The main intention of this trip was to try and finally after 4 years travelling was to settle down a bit (my bank balance also needed it as well).

The first few days I sent out maybe 30 emails to various companies here in Georgia, and within a few days (and speaking to a handful of different companies) I had an interview at ITDC. After an hour or so interview with Sergo, George and Theo they decided I could fit into the organisation and utilise my skills not only from an IT point of view but also as an Englishman. It was a big step for me joining a company in not only a different country, but also where I knew it was not going to be a simple task to integrate with everyone else where I dont speak the language.

After picking up the details of how the main systems are organised (basically myvideo.ge) with the help of Theo things were progressing well. It has been always my intention to learn at least some basic Georgian as I am well aware it will help with communication and explaining things to others maybe a bit better than Im able to in English.

It is now almost 9 months after joining ITDC and im the first to admit I have not made nearly as much progress on that side as I would have liked. From my point of view I think there are a number of reasons for that... firstly settling into living in a new country is not an easy task in itself and there are lots of things that I have needed to work out. Secondly is having the time in which to actually learn. The weekdays in the office means I lose the entire week (no real difference to being in the uk where the pattern is work/sleep/work/sleep etc), but it meant that my only real chance was at weekends. I would say that maybe I havent put in enough effort to find a teacher who can spare me 1-2 hours on a saturday or sunday to get me at least a start. Saying that I have picked up the alphabet (even thought not 100% confident), and can read most words written in Georgian so there has been a tiny bit of progress.

My main aim after I get back from UK after christmas is to put as much effort as I can into not only finding a teacher, but to have as much of a crash course as possible to manage to string together a sentence or 2. If I can achieve that then im hoping during the rest of 2013 then that can develop much further.

In my own mind its perfectly simple the task that I have... my year contract at ITDC will be up for renewal at the end of March. The projects I have completed since I started at ITDC have been fine, but it would be better in during 2013 I can play more of a role within the company. Breaking the language barrier will help make that happen (barrier is the wrong word as everyone at ITDC can speak some english, but it is not always easy for them. Plus I am the visitor in Georgia so it is my responsibility and desire to learn their language).

Cant think of anything else to write at this point but will add over the coming days or weeks when things come to mind !!

Thursday 12 April 2012

Thought of the day for producers of Electronic Music....

To all the new wave of electronic music producers (and I know theres thousands of you...) out there making tunes in a few hours, or a day, or even a week.... does it actually give you the satisfaction that you have actually made something GOOD??

My thoughts are no it doesnt. Or at least to the person listening it doesnt.

Wheres the achievement gone for working painstakingly for weeks, months, or even years to get that sound perfect, and to come up with something unique and revolutionary that will stick in peoples minds for the next 10 years.

Is electronic music that simple that it can be made in no time? Wheres the passion for perfection?

Or is it just about money now? Make 5 tunes a week, and sell a few on Beatport to make a few pound, then make 5 more....

Are you proud of the music you make? Does it promote you as a producer who does something different and unique and make you stand out from the thousands of other producers out there? Does every tune you make mean something to you? Either by the issues or problems you had making it, or where you were when the inspiration for it came into your head?

Lets put this simply.... Did your tune make people think? Were people affected by your tune? Did it change things? Or was it just more of the same?