White & Nerdy

Edit 6/11/06: For some reason, the video shows up as currently not available on Google Video. Maybe Weird Al thought there'd been enough viral marketing and took it back down again. Link left for posterity.

Yes. Yes I am. It's probably not a surprise to anyone who knows me that I understand everything in this song (even identify with some of it). I've always had a soft spot for Weird Al and it's comforting to know that as I get older, some things will never change. It's also comforting to know that once again I'm a little late to a bandwagon. Some other things don't change either...

Marmaduke Explained

When I was a kid, we had this giant book of Marmaduke cartoons. I used to love reading them while eating my breakfast in the mornings. However, a large book of Marmaduke cartoons quickly brings the reader to two conclusions:

1. they don't really make a lot of sense
2. they're not actually all that funny.

These two conclusions held true for many years, but now all that is about to change.

Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke.

Gold. Pure gold.

Found via Boing Boing (permalink)

A few more days away

I'll be off-line until Monday evening as we're having the boy christened this weekend. Yay.

The coolest bookshelves I have ever seen...

Tangram.

I could have a lot of fun with these. There's a bunch of other cool products around on their site as well. I'm fairly sure I could never afford any of them...

Two steps forward, one step back

This time of year has traditionally been a good time of year for us - Tax Return Season. I don't think there has been a single year when the ATO hasn't given us both back at least a little something. For a change, both us have got a decent return so we've been able to retire some of the credit card debt that has been mounting since we reverted to one income.

Today, we've changed debt situation. Again. We have been in need of a new refrigerator for quite a while and we have known that as soon as Bugs moves onto solids we were going to have to replace it with something bigger. Harvey Norman and Domayne have been offering a large amount of goods on 40 months interest free. This is an offer that is very hard to resist, and it proved impossible in the end. We now own a new refrigerator (to be delivered), digital camcorder and a printer. The printer was dirt cheap (and in the end I paid for it with my credit card anyway because we had reached my limit with my GE Creditline - which is not as bad as it sounds as it's purposely a lower limit) and the camcorder was reduced, but still...

Yay. Debt. Woo. We've made a calculated decision to enter into interest free debt, and we have the means to pay out the amount well in advance of the due period. That doesn't mean I have to like it though.

Preserving the ozone layer

The ozone layer is one of things we probably can't do without. It blocks large amounts of ultraviolet radiation, which is responsible for sunburn and, if exposure is high enough, skin cancers. We've all heard for many years that the ozone layer has big "holes" in it at the poles (which is more like an extreme reduction in the concentration, but the idea's the same) as well as a general depletion of levels in the atmosphere.

Recent press reports would indicate that while the ozone layer is recovering, it may not be doing so as fast as we originally thought it might. Indeed, some skeptics question whether there was ever a problem in the first place. Arguments aside, living in Australia I'm a prime ozone depletion sufferer, so I'm inclined to side with the green and unwashed on this one, which is why in support of the United Nations International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer (September 16) I bring you this:



In 2006, Al Gore spoke at the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design conference. It's worth watching, and at about 17 minutes it won't take much of your time.

Thank you.


Edit: If you don't want to (or can't) stream the video, it's also available in mp4 format at http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/.

Trying something new...

pixelated dreams

Let me know what you think...

Stalk much?

Got your next victim lined up but no subterranean stronghold to contain them? Then you need to check out this place.

Creepy.

I'm guessing the fortress was built by "end of the world" survivalist nuts, and I must admit that I would do almost anything in the world to have a fortress of my very own (mainly because then I could pretend the rest of the world didn't exist and both myself and the rest of the world would probably be much happier as a result), but still... Just think of the weirdos lining up to buy this place.

I guess it must be some consolation that most creeps or freaks wouldn't have the cash to shell out on this baby.

Boonie's back!

For a brief few days, Boonie was back, asking for a VB like the little champion and loyal servant he has always been.

Yesterday he started speaking constantly for about half an hour (although I use the phrase "speaking" rather loosely as it was more an unitelligble mutter) before the unthinkable happened: his battery ran out, and Boonie was silenced, I think this time for good.

Given his battery was supposed to run out back around March, and he's already arisen from the dead once alread, it's been a bloodly marvellous effort from the little Aussie battler.

I can't wait for this season's VB Series of One Day cricket, where a new Boonie will be unleashed on us all (yay!), and rumour has it that this time he'll have a little friend as well.

Off their trolley

If finally had to happen. The trolley is gone.

On the weekend all the tertiary institutions in Canberra had an open day, where prospective students would be shown around the campus and the institutions would have an opportunity to offload all the pamphletts that they had lying about the place because someone accidentally added a zero the Quantity column on the printer's order form. This time last weekI figured that if ever there was a time when CIT would want to not look like the dudes from Animal House had just visited after yet another giant kegger, this would be the time.

Monday morning, bright and early, I mentally waved to the trolley still sitting in the tree as I sped past on the bus. I guess CIT was about more than looking good. "We're not shallow" the campus seemed to say. "We are all about the learning here, we are. Frankly, we're a little disappointed that you could think so little of us. For shame."

Tuesday morning I drove to work as I had a lecture in the afternoon, so I did not pass the trolley. In a way, I'm sad, because on Wednesday when I passed CIT on the bus, the trolley was gone.

I never even got to say goodbye...

Writely

I'm just testing out Writely, Google's latest in a line of Ajax dealys on their way to conquering the world.

I don't think I've quite got the hang of using a web-based word processor, and I don't think I could ever use it for serious work, but it looks like it could be handy. You can blog from it as well, which makes it yet another in a long series of geek toys I play with for no reason other than I can ;)

Edit: Well, there's still some issues, including not publishing titles in Blogger, but since publishing to blogs is still a beta feature, and isn't the main point of the service anyway, I'll forgive them...

Impressions of the Tasmania Trip #2

You can change a nappy anywhere you want, as long as you do it with confidence.

On our trip, we changed Elijah's nappy in a variety of public places including, but not limited to:

• on a picnic table of a busy rest stop near Bookham on the drive down to Melbourne;
  
• on a packed City Circle tram in Melbourne;
• on the bonnet of the car in a back street in Perth, Tasmania;
• on a picnic table on the way to Tahune, Tasmania;
• on a picnic table at the water front at St Helens;
  
• in a restaurant during the reception for the lovely wedding of Andrew and Jacinta;
• on a picnic table outside of Tasmazia (you should be detecting a pattern here); and
  
• on the bonnet of the car outside of a Shell road house about half an hour north of Melbourne (yet another pattern)

Edit 20 August: Ooh, and I forgot, on the bonnet of the car in the car park at a Maccas in Devonport

At a couple of places, some people looked a little surprised, but no one objected (not even on the tram and it was packed) and no one even really looked shocked or outraged.

The same goes for breastfeeding, but these days breastfeeding in public is no big deal (which is the way it should be).

Non-photo #1: Redux

The shopping trolley I wrote about earlier is still there, many weeks later. Maybe it's too hard to get out of the tree.

Before my computer went tits up a while back, I managed to squeeze off a few shots that then sat on my camera until the computer was fixed and I could download them. The story didn't make much sense written down, and I'm not convinced the photos help, but I just had to give credit where it was due.

The bus stops are probably about 8 feet high. It's going to take a little bit of effort to climb up on top of one. It's going to take a lot more effort to haul a shopping trolley up on to the roof.






This photo should give you an idea of both the height of the trolley from the ground as well as the distance between the tree and the top of the bus stop. That must have taken a hell of a lot of work to wedge that trolley in properly. I wouldn't be surprised if it took two or three attempts.





And finally, so you can see just how firmly wedged that trolley is...


I wonder just how long this trolley is going to stay up there. Installation art at its finest!

Just leave the car alone. Please.

Stop breaking into our fucking car. Seriously.

4 times in 3 years is too much, and we're really not that impressed about having to replace the driver's side door lock (again) and the lock on the boot so that they can once again be key operated.

Serious consideration is being given to becoming a one car household as too many people seem to see a Hyundai Excel as easy pickings (I know the link is for the Accent but it turns out that in Australia, between 95 and 2000, what was an Excel was an Accent in most other places. Stuff you learn) .

Nothing was stolen, but it still gives me the shits. The damage caused will be inconvenient enough, and as usual, will be less than the excess on our insurance policy so there's no point making a claim.

*sigh*

Everytime I start to feel good about humanity, some arseclown goes and ruins it for me.

Impressions of Tasmania #1

One thing that really stands out in my memory of our recent trip to Tasmania (apart from the gorgeous scenery and the nightmare drive between Scottsdale and Launceston at dusk) is that everyone drives so slowly.

In my daily existence, most people tend to drive at least 10km/h over the posted speed limit. I often find myself doing 10km/h over the speed limit in the right hand lane (that's the fast lane for those who drive on the wrong side of the road) and still have someone tail gaiting me because I’m just not driving fast enough for them. In Tasmania, the rule seemed to be that driving 10km/h below the speed limit was an acceptable and much more civilised way of getting around. This was most obvious in the central business district of Hobart (Tasmania's capital) but was also a popular philosophy on major highways between towns.

Driving speeds are a useful indicator of how laid back and relaxed citizens really are. Canberrans like to think we are laid back and relaxed. We promote our home as the "Bush Capital", boast of the many parks and recreational areas and steadfastly believe we are living the dream of a stress-free lifestyle. This has been one of the major selling points of a campaign to attract more people to live in Canberra (warning: site is Flash heavy).

How many Canberrans are relaxed? At social events conversations quickly turn to work (if they didn’t already start out that way). I find that public servants are the worst serial offenders (or maybe I just hang around with too many public servants) as it takes only the smallest prompting before we all "talk shop". (Happily, I do this less and less. Without even the slightest prompting I now enter New Father Mode, regaling people with stories of vomit and poo and watch the eyes of the childless glaze over at record speeds. I’m a real riot at dinner parties.)

As Canberra is a town with a highly transient population, it can be hard to meet people. If it's difficult to get out and about socially, work can become the focus. I find that people lose perspective and seem to develop this bizarre tendency to believe that what they do is vitally important and requires every spare shred of their energy, including evenings and weekends. Too much focus on work leaves too little focus on other things like exercise, balanced diets with home cooking, sleep(!) and downtime where unwinding is necessary (and that doesn't include downing a bottle of red at a dinner party while complaining about how little work your Manager does while you take home a ream of print outs to read at the dinner table every night). People rush around to meetings, to supermarkets late after work trying to find something that will take 10 minutes to cook and 5 minutes to eat, to the gym because they feel guilty that they haven't gone in a week because they were working too hard, and back to work again. If you're not relaxed and you're rushing, you're more likely to be right up my arse on the highway because you can't wait two seconds for me to finish overtaking the semi-trailer struggling up the hill and move over into the left lane so you can hurry up and stress yourself to an early grave.

This is supposed to be an impression of Tasmania isn't it...

Tassie seemed so very relaxed. People were friendly. No one was rushed. There always seemed to be enough time in the day to do stuff (I'll concede that being on holiday helps immeasurably here). Everything seemed cleaner, brighter, less uptight and less self-important and self-involved.

Impression of Tasmania #1? If it didn't mean that Helen would be even further away from her family, and if I didn't have concerns about finding a fulfilling job, I think we could quite easily make the decision to stay there on a more permanent basis. As the guy at the Tourist Information shopfront at Sheffield said, most people visit Tasmania more than once, but be warned - on your fifth visit you'll be bringing your furniture with you. I'm beginning to understand why.

Oops

Forgot to mention that we would be in Tasmania for 10 days. My bad. We only just got back under an hour ago (in time for Helen to watch Home and Away).

Normal service to resume very shortly (complete with cranky rants and purdy pictures).

-s

And we're back

If you can forgive just one more geek out.

My computer problems appear to have been an aging CPU, which was an AMD AthlonXP 1800+ (Palomino core). Very much old technology, although it was top of the range for about 2 weeks when I bought it in late 2001.

Tonight I installed a new AMD Sempron 2500+ (Socket A, not Socket 754). This is also very much old technology, but it's absolutely smoking my old CPU, not to mention that it's running at least 10° cooler, notwithstanding the Vantec cooler I bought last week as well.

Aw.

Yeah.

The real test will be how well this boots up tomorrow, but I've got a good feeling about this bad boy. A really good feeling.

Also, much love goes out to Stonebridge Computing, where I purchased this new little lovely. The Express Post parcel, which guarantees overnight delivery did not arrive yesterday as it should have. I let Stonebridge know (mainly so that they could claim their money back from Australia Post because they broke their guarantee), but they were also suitably concerned that the parcel arrive to me. They also began making arrangements to hold my parcel to one side if it ended up being returned to sender.

Thank you Stonebridge. Your concern (and the fact that you actually had some Socket A chips in stock!) means that you guys will become one of the first places I check online when looking to order stuff.

Geeking out for just a second

Actively maintained, currently in beta browser - iCab. Can't use Blogger.

Out of date, legacy version of a browser built upon the strong and robust Gecko engine - Netscape. Can't use Blogger (and pretty sluggish in normal use too).

Bug laden, crash happy, long since abandoned browser - Internet Explorer for Mac v5.0 (.0, people - that means no patches or updates). Can use Blogger - after a fashion. Less of the pretty pictures come up but at least I can actually type in the text box when creating a new post.

Browser incompatibility must be a very frustrating thing. I'm most definitely glad I am not a web designer.

Edit: 25 July to fix a link. 1 time in total.

The Perils of Geekdom

My geek pride has taken blows and boosts of equal measure this week.

Firstly, the blows. My PC just plain does not want to work. Over the last couple of months I have replaced the hard drives, PSU, motherboard and now CPU cooling unit. After replacing the HDDs, PSU and mobo, I thought I had the problem all sorted out. The computer was working fine (more or less - it was still a little flaky but I put that down to usually Windows instability). In the last two weeks it started randomly rebooting and not POSTing. I reapplied some thermal paste with the old stock cooler I had and it seemed to work - for a while. I then replaced the stock cooler with a shiny new Vantec one, but that only worked intermittently and now, not at all.

The beep code errors when it does POST have told me at various times that it's a heat issue, a bad RAM issue and a video card issue. I've got a new CPU on order (a Sempron 2500+, which is way better than my old Athlon XP 1800+) and I'm preparing myself for the possibility that I might need a new video card as well (I've got my eye on a model that retails for about $200 - we'll see). If I had known that all of these problems were going ot happen at once, I would have just sucked it in and bought a new bare bones system rather than do this piecemeal trying to minimise expenditure (because we didn't, and still don't, really have the money for this). Instead, I'll probably spend just as much and end up with a significantly inferior system.

On the upside, I've managed to get ADSL working on my wife's old Mac G4, without having any real idea of how to do it. I even managed to apply some of the telecommunications/networking stuff I learnt last semester at uni to set up a new ethernet connection. I've also discovered a new web browser in iCab, which is possibly the only OS9 browser still being actively maintained. It's not perfect, but it does have tabbed browsing. It doesn't work with our bank's online banking (which bank doesn't really give a rats about Mac users? Exactly), but I've downloaded an older version of Netscape Communicator that is apparently supported.

Geek pride at equilibrium. If the new CPU (which hopefully will arrive this week) doesn't work, it'll be sliding down pretty quickly.

When the cat’s away….

… the mice will play. Apparently.

The boss has been away today so this particular little phrase has been tossed around the office with restrained abandon (if you think that’s a tautology, you’ve clearly never been a public servant).

The phrase might be fine, in and of itself, except I’ve never actually seen a mouse do anything that would suggest to me that it was in a particularly playful state of mind (excluding, of course, these two. However, I have been (un)reliably informed that they are, in fact, not real mice. Sure. Next they’ll be saying a weird little chick in a tu-tu didn’t buy all the teeth (at greatly reduced rates, mind) I put under my pillow when I was a kid). Every mouse I’ve ever seen was desperately emaciated and scrounging for rancid scraps; skittish and fleeing in terror at the slightest movement; mindlessly running around and around in some sort of wheel-like device, never going forward, never going back, just spinning and spinning, trapped in a lab; or cruelly crushed in a spring loaded death-trap.

If that's play, I think I'll pass.

EDIT: And then the boss returned, discovered there were a couple of things that needed to be updated yesterday (literally, not figure of speech) and we've all been hammered with work in the last 45 minutes. Woo. And now I go home...