Sights of Nottingham: Wollaton Hall

Note: High resolution images of all of the following photos are available. Click on the photos to view their higher resolution images.

After seeing the (rather) gloomy indoors of Wollaton Hall, it's time to enjoy the sunshine outside.

3-piece panorama of Wollaton Hall.

Nothing beats a great summer day at Wollaton Park. It's been a very, very long time since I've had that much peace.

There was nothing to worry about, other than the occasional I-have-to-clear-my-bladder problem.

Left: Wollaton Park courtyard and Middle: Wollaton Hall. Probably the only places within Wollaton Park with toilets, unless you don't mind peeing into bushes...

Everything was peaceful and quiet, save for the occasional chirp of birds, rush of wind, brush of leaves and laughter of children.

Panorama of Wollaton Hall, captured from a low angle.

No skyscraper to block my view, other than the majestic Wollaton Hall. Nothing to stop me from my tracks, except the honey bees and the colourful flowers everywhere.

Details of Wollaton Hall.

Everything seemed so free, so lost in time. The only busiest things within sight were typical English clouds, drifting and twisting at unbelievable speeds. I lied down on a park bench and it felt like falling through endless space, clouds neither within reach nor strong enough to support my weight.

Before long, the sun set, it got cold and I became hungry. I started my journey back home, and within 15 minutes, I was standing right beside a busy road, cars hustling past me, driven by busy drivers. I felt like I'd just woken up from a long nap all of a sudden.

A long, long nap with an incredibly sweet dream.

One of the final and finest pictures I took at Wollaton Park. Goodbye Nottingham...

Sights of Nottingham: Museum of Natural History

Note: High resolution images of all of the following photos are available. Click on the photos to view their higher resolution images.

Quite some time ago, I posted pictures of Wollaton Park, split over two posts, here and here.

Right at the heart of Wollaton Park is Wollaton Hall. It was built in the 16th century and is now currently used as Nottingham's Museum of Natural History.

Interior panorama of Wollaton Hall.

While certainly not as interesting as London's Museum of Natural History (which I visited briefly, photos will be up some time in the future), it's still worth a visit. After all, entrance is totally free, although it is customary to drop a few coins into the donation box.

Geez, I never knew bees live in multi-storey buildings.

Wollaton Hall is two-storey tall (or so I remember). Among things you can expect to see in the museum include preserved animals, live insects kept in glass enclosures, stuffed models of birds (some are artificial, some are real preserved animals) and a wide collection of gemstones.

Animal trophies, collected when hunting was still perfectly unregulated and legal.


Close-up of the trophies.


Nope. One year in UK and I haven't seen anyone smoking pipes like this. At least no one non-fictional and alive.


Remember the good ol' radios shown in classic Disney cartoons?


Or the rotate-to-dial phones?

I apologise for the lack of quality of these photos. As usual, it was a big challenge, trying to catch photos in dark interiors with such an old camera. But photos of the Hall's exterior definitely look much better, and I promise they'll be uploaded relatively soon.

Web Gadgets: And Another JavaScript Clock!

One of the first programs I wrote when I learnt JavaScript was a digital clock.

Then, just last month, I wrote an analogue clock, with the hands all made up of periods.

And now, behold! Yet another JavaScript clock. This time, the hands are not made of lousy dots -- they're real hands now, drawn with two of the latest CSS features: transform and transition.

For Google Chrome and Apple Safari users, you should already be able to see hands slowly move between ticks, instead of "teleporting" from location to location. The same goes to Opera users, although some minor bugs may be observed.

Again, for Firefox users, upgrade to version 4.0 or later (4.0 beta currently, at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/) to see what you've been missing. Seriously, Version 4.0 is good. Those who prefer to stay with earlier versions will still see a functioning clock with "teleporting" hands though.

Sadly, for Internet Explorer users, this clock doesn't work. You'll have to wait for IE9 to try your luck, sorry about that.

Here goes the source code, for those who are curious. Remember, Blogger.com does NOT support JavaScript at blog bodies, so use a proper HTML/JavaScript gadget for the clock.

<style type="text/css">
.dot {position:absolute;font-weight:bold;}
#sechand {position:absolute;top:80px;left:40px;width:70px;border:1px dashed;transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,0px);-moz-transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,0px);-webkit-transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,0px);-o-transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,0px);}
#minhand,#hrhand {position:absolute;left:40px;top:80px;width:70px;transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,-1px);-moz-transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,0px);-webkit-transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,-1px);-o-transform: rotate(-90deg) translate(35px,-1px);}
#minhand {border:2px solid;}
</style>

<div style="position:relative;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;width:160px;height:170px;" id="labelcontainer">
<hr id="sechand" />
<hr id="minhand" />
<div id="hrhand" /><hr style="width:50px;border:2px solid;position:relative;right:10px;" /></div></div>
<span id="debug"></span>

<script type="text/javascript">
for (var i=0;i!=13;i++)
{
document.getElementById('labelcontainer').innerHTML+="<span class='dot' style='top:"+y_coor(i*5,75,74)+"px;left:"+x_coor(i*5,75,74)+"px;'>."+"</span>"
}
upd_sec();
upd_min();

function upd_sec()
{
var now=new Date();
setTimeout('upd_sec()',1000-now.valueOf()%1000);
var angle=now.getSeconds()*6-90;
if (now.getSeconds()==59)
setTimeout('sec0()',800);
document.getElementById("sechand").setAttribute("style","\
transition-duration:0.75s;\
-moz-transition-duration:0.75s;\
-webkit-transition-duration:0.75s;\
-o-transition-duration:0.75s;\
transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-moz-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-webkit-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-o-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,0px);");
}

function upd_min()
{
var now=new Date();
setTimeout('upd_min()',60000-now.valueOf()%60000);
if (now.getMinutes()==59)
setTimeout('min0()',850);
var angle=now.getMinutes()*6-90;
document.getElementById("minhand").setAttribute("style","\
transition-duration:0.75s;\
-moz-transition-duration:0.75s;\
-webkit-transition-duration:0.75s;\
-o-transition-duration:0.75s;\
transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,-1px);\
-moz-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-webkit-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,-1px);\
-o-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,-1px);");
angle=now.getHours()*30+now.getMinutes()/2-90;
document.getElementById("hrhand").setAttribute("style","\
transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,-1px);\
-moz-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-webkit-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,-1px);\
-o-transform: rotate("+angle+"deg) translate(35px,-1px);");
}

function sec0()
{
document.getElementById("sechand").setAttribute("style","\
transition-property: none;\
-moz-transition-property: none;\
-webkit-transition-property: none;\
-o-transition-property: none;\
transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-moz-transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-webkit-transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-o-transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,0px);");
}

function min0()
{
document.getElementById("minhand").setAttribute("style","\
transition-property: none;\
-moz-transition-property: none;\
-webkit-transition-property: none;\
-o-transition-property: none;\
transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,-1px);\
-moz-transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,0px);\
-webkit-transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,-1px);\
-o-transform: rotate(-96deg) translate(35px,-1px);");
}

function x_coor(sec,radius,offset)
{
return (Math.sin(sec*0.10472)*radius+offset);
}

function y_coor(sec,radius,offset)
{
return (offset-Math.cos(sec*0.10472)*radius);
}
</script>

More clocks in the future?