Wednesday, 23 September 2009

33 Munros and computers

I downloaded an application onto my iPodtouch called Hill Lists which cost 59p. listing: The Munros, Munro Tops, Murdos, Corbetts, Corbett Tops, Grahams, Donalds, Marilyns, Deweys, Hewitts, Nuttalls, Wainwrights, and Wainwrights Outlying Fells. If you want detailed information and definitions go to www.biber.fsnet.co.uk/downloads.html suffice to say there are over five thousand British hills listed. There is a facility to tick ones  done and thereby produce your list of ones remaining. There are other features too.


After downloading this application I accepted a free update, and then the system crashed. Delving into Apple App Store info. I found you could email the compiler direct.  On Sunday 20th Sept. I emailed with little hope of progress, but received a reply within twenty minutes from Graham Haley. After exchange of information with Graham over a couple of days he told me the problem was solved. He had filed an update with Apple and asked them to expedite approval and publication.

Today (Tuesday 23rd Sept.) I received email from Graham (sent at 6:44 am) saying that Apple have published the update. I downloaded the update and all works well.

What a refreshing service in the world of computer software.

During the correspondence I established that Graham has done 148 Munros out of 283– it should be noted that the total was 284 until two weeks ago when the following announcement was made:

Sgurr nan Ceannaichean has been reclassified as a Corbett following surveys carried out by John Barnard and Graham Jackson for The Munro Society. The news was announced at a press conference on 11 September. Rab Anderson of the SMC was present and confirmed that Munro's Tables were changed with immediate effect.

Who are these nerds? A pity it wasn’t one added which would have given me an excuse for another visit to Scotland (not that I need an excuse).

5 comments:

  1. Good find! I've had my iTouch since Christmas and thus far have only used it for email and internet browsing (with a tiny bit of listening to audiobooks), without investigating this whole world of Apps.

    But, I've just dashed over to iTunes to buy that App. It's not that I'm about to start collecting hills (honest...), but what a fantastic little App it is for the princely sum of 59p.

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  2. Gayle.

    Go on! Set yourself a target – you could perhaps be the first to complete all 2010 Marilyns in the the UK and Ireland unless somebody has now managed to get themselves onto the dodgy sea stacks – see below quotes from Wikipedia.

    ...There are 1555 Marilyns identified in Great Britain and surrounding islands: 1215 in Scotland, 178 in England, 157 in Wales and 5 on the Isle of Man. (The Black Mountain, on the border between England and Wales, was formerly counted in both countries but is now treated as being in Wales only.[1]) There are a further 455 in Ireland (66 in Northern Ireland and 389 in the Republic of Ireland) bringing the total to 2010…

    …As of the end of 2008, no one has completed the list; however, six people are only four or five short of completing the Great Britain list (because of the inaccessibility of five of the St Kilda Marilyns)...

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  3. If that sequence of names represents a descending order of protuberances, some of them surely must be declivities if not downright holes in the earth's crust.

    Given my former profession I am fascinated to know how many journos attended the press conference devoted to the reclassification. Tell you what, the exchange of info would have been terribly slow, punctuated by requests for the speaker to spell out those Gaelic names.

    Word verification: boloc. You may take that whichever way you want.

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  4. BB Perhaps some of them refer to potholes and caves?

    Did not understand your ref. to "boloc." apart from its obvious relationship to an expletive.

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  5. "boloc" was the word I had to enter into the word verification panel to allow my comment to be accepted.

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