Not posts for some time. I've been both slack and busy. Busy setting up Peter in Adland and trying to use Textpattern as a cms to run it.
Blogger, while limited, is certainly easy to use. Textpattern on the other hand has great flexibility but the complications that come with it.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Friday, May 28, 2004
Not Addicted
The New York Times has an interesting article on blogging. It seems it is an addiction for some. Looking at the dates on my posts I can see that I'm not one of those people.
The article does note that few people read blogs and many are started but few continue. I imagine many people wonder like I do - why am I doing this?
Blogging can be a solution in search of a problem. This is to say it is a great way to get online. It's easy to use (no messy HTML), easy to update etc etc. But if you don't really have any compelling reason to get your information on the web (or indeed and compelling information), then what is the point?
The article does note that few people read blogs and many are started but few continue. I imagine many people wonder like I do - why am I doing this?
Blogging can be a solution in search of a problem. This is to say it is a great way to get online. It's easy to use (no messy HTML), easy to update etc etc. But if you don't really have any compelling reason to get your information on the web (or indeed and compelling information), then what is the point?
Friday, May 21, 2004
Gulliver'’s Travels
I have been listening to Hugh Laurie read Gulliver'’s Travels. I borrowed the tapes from the library and they are great for the daily commute.
I don't really know the background of the book or Jonathan Swift the author but it was more than just an ye olde adventure that I had been expecting.
Mr Swift makes some telling points on human (and horse) nature. Some of the time his moralising and irony is a bit quaint and the satire is always heavy but it is well worth a read. It is not the children's story I thought it was.
If you think it's just about a giant in Lilliput then think again.
I don't really know the background of the book or Jonathan Swift the author but it was more than just an ye olde adventure that I had been expecting.
Mr Swift makes some telling points on human (and horse) nature. Some of the time his moralising and irony is a bit quaint and the satire is always heavy but it is well worth a read. It is not the children's story I thought it was.
If you think it's just about a giant in Lilliput then think again.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Diary?
Given that no one other than me reads this blog why am I bothering?
I'm not sure. I guess it's a question quite a few people with Blogger accounts ask themselves. I have also wondered just what I should include in this blog and whether or not I should "publicize" it (which I have to an extent by signing up with Aussie Blogs).
Publicity I decided is not really warranted given the content of the site. Basically I've filled this blog up with a variety of observations and anecdotes. Great stuff if you are chatting to a friend in a pub but not really compelling reading.
I guess I keep it going as a sort of diary. I have looked back at entry's, even though they only go back a few months, and thought - "Hey yeh - that was what I was doing". So I suppose the whole blog will continue on as is. It is a bit of a test of my short attention span...
I'm not sure. I guess it's a question quite a few people with Blogger accounts ask themselves. I have also wondered just what I should include in this blog and whether or not I should "publicize" it (which I have to an extent by signing up with Aussie Blogs).
Publicity I decided is not really warranted given the content of the site. Basically I've filled this blog up with a variety of observations and anecdotes. Great stuff if you are chatting to a friend in a pub but not really compelling reading.
I guess I keep it going as a sort of diary. I have looked back at entry's, even though they only go back a few months, and thought - "Hey yeh - that was what I was doing". So I suppose the whole blog will continue on as is. It is a bit of a test of my short attention span...
Nice shiny car
I picked up my car from the pane beaters yesterday and they had cut and polished it. I wash my car about twice a year so I'm not used to it looking in any way shiny but now it sparkles. The also cleaned and vacuumed the inside, even really cleaned the windows. I really love the way it looks but I know I'm not going to maintain it. I suppose if I want a shiny car, I'll just have to smash it into something...
Not dropped
It appears I'm not dropped, so I can stop being pissed off. Got an email from the coach saying I was playing in the 6's. He didn't know why I was on the 7's list. I suspect it must have been discussed and someone stuffed up. It appears I'll have to life my game and try a bit harder to stay in the 6's...
Dropped
I've been dropped and I am mightily pissed off by it.
I have played Hockey since my mid teens and have enjoyed it immensely. Lately as my time commitments have been a bit extreme I've just been playing the winter season and not training. For the first four week of this season I've played in our club's sixth team. It is not a particularly high standard but given my fitness level I have enjoyed it and enjoyed the guys I've been playing with.
This week however I've been dropped to the 7's. I've been trying to tell myself not to be concerned, all I want is a "run around the park", it doesn't matter where I play etc - but I can't help it I'm pissed off. I was enjoying playing in the team I was. I thought I was doing OK, well even. We were winning or drawing games and this team had failed to win a game all last year, so the team was working well.
I'm sure there is a reason for it, I just hope it a good one. (Yes I'm bitter - I just need some time to calm down a bit.)
I have played Hockey since my mid teens and have enjoyed it immensely. Lately as my time commitments have been a bit extreme I've just been playing the winter season and not training. For the first four week of this season I've played in our club's sixth team. It is not a particularly high standard but given my fitness level I have enjoyed it and enjoyed the guys I've been playing with.
This week however I've been dropped to the 7's. I've been trying to tell myself not to be concerned, all I want is a "run around the park", it doesn't matter where I play etc - but I can't help it I'm pissed off. I was enjoying playing in the team I was. I thought I was doing OK, well even. We were winning or drawing games and this team had failed to win a game all last year, so the team was working well.
I'm sure there is a reason for it, I just hope it a good one. (Yes I'm bitter - I just need some time to calm down a bit.)
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Explain this
Most weeks I pick up a copy of The Bulletin and take it home to read. It is often on the kitchen table and occasionally I'll read it at breakfast and explain some articles (or ads!) to my kids.
This week the cover featured another horrific picture from Iraq - the one with the prisoner cowering in front of the guard dogs (see link above). I found that I couldn't take this copy of the Bulletin down to the kitchen table because I couldn't explain it. I don't really understand why this happened myself, so there is no way I can explain even a sanatised version to young kids.
Generally when I'm trying to explain things to them (like why you can't drive to the moon) it's because their experience of the world in quite narrow. In this case it seems my experience of the world is too narrow.
I applaud The Bulletin for using a confronting cover. There is no need for kids to see images like this - they'll be inundated with confronting images before long anyway - but it is probably a good idea that I see it. It means I can't pretend I never noticed and stay hidden in my comfortable notions of just who and what is good and bad.
This week the cover featured another horrific picture from Iraq - the one with the prisoner cowering in front of the guard dogs (see link above). I found that I couldn't take this copy of the Bulletin down to the kitchen table because I couldn't explain it. I don't really understand why this happened myself, so there is no way I can explain even a sanatised version to young kids.
Generally when I'm trying to explain things to them (like why you can't drive to the moon) it's because their experience of the world in quite narrow. In this case it seems my experience of the world is too narrow.
I applaud The Bulletin for using a confronting cover. There is no need for kids to see images like this - they'll be inundated with confronting images before long anyway - but it is probably a good idea that I see it. It means I can't pretend I never noticed and stay hidden in my comfortable notions of just who and what is good and bad.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Design needs some work
So I tweaked a design and turned it from excellent to awful in about 10 minutes. I dumped it and tried another, this time with a few less tweakes and this is what you now see. It's good but the trouble is there is only so much tweaking you can do without breaking it - mainly because of the images. I guess if you want more control you use your own images or stop using blogger,
All change
Ok, it has to happen.
Blogger has gone to all the trouble to build a nice new site with new templates so I'd better grab one. I'm going to have to strip out some of the personalisation from my old design and see if I can dump it in a new template.
Now what will it be?
A Zeldman?
A Bowman?
Perhaps a nice Shea?
Blogger has gone to all the trouble to build a nice new site with new templates so I'd better grab one. I'm going to have to strip out some of the personalisation from my old design and see if I can dump it in a new template.
Now what will it be?
A Zeldman?
A Bowman?
Perhaps a nice Shea?
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Rubbing shoulders
I drive a car to and from work every day. I have some environmental consciousness, enough to pay extra for "Green" electricity, but not enough to take my polluting car off the road and take public transport each day.
Today, and indeed for the rest of the week, I am on public transport, rubbing shoulders with the masses. My car is at the panel beaters, who are going to take all week and a great deal of money to repair a small dent on a single panel of the car. Before I get started on a rant about cars, panel beaters and insurance costs - back to public transport.
I have no real objection to public transport. Like most people, I used it extensively as a student. Cost though, is an issue. It costs me $5.80 a day (or $93.80 a month if I want to buy in advance). My parking is free and while petrol is expensive, it just doesn't come close to $5 a day.
However, if you add up petrol, registration, insurance and servicing for the year it probably comes to $2,500 a year for the car versus about $1,125 for monthly transport tickets. That's a saving of over 50%! So why don't I catch public transport? Well setting aside my general laziness, the flexibility of the car makes it easy for me to justify spending the money. In this I feel I am not alone.
Still, when I have to, I enjoy public transport. You get out of the little private bubble that is your car and have to mix with others. You feel that you are living a life a little more rather than watching it pass by. You are forced to relate to others, even if it is only a small shuffle to let people pass or grab a hand hold. It probably should be compulsory for everyone to catch public transport once a week. It might make us more understanding of others and cut down on a bit of road rage.
Today, and indeed for the rest of the week, I am on public transport, rubbing shoulders with the masses. My car is at the panel beaters, who are going to take all week and a great deal of money to repair a small dent on a single panel of the car. Before I get started on a rant about cars, panel beaters and insurance costs - back to public transport.
I have no real objection to public transport. Like most people, I used it extensively as a student. Cost though, is an issue. It costs me $5.80 a day (or $93.80 a month if I want to buy in advance). My parking is free and while petrol is expensive, it just doesn't come close to $5 a day.
However, if you add up petrol, registration, insurance and servicing for the year it probably comes to $2,500 a year for the car versus about $1,125 for monthly transport tickets. That's a saving of over 50%! So why don't I catch public transport? Well setting aside my general laziness, the flexibility of the car makes it easy for me to justify spending the money. In this I feel I am not alone.
Still, when I have to, I enjoy public transport. You get out of the little private bubble that is your car and have to mix with others. You feel that you are living a life a little more rather than watching it pass by. You are forced to relate to others, even if it is only a small shuffle to let people pass or grab a hand hold. It probably should be compulsory for everyone to catch public transport once a week. It might make us more understanding of others and cut down on a bit of road rage.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Gmail - the way things should be
Well I'm using my new gmail account a bit now. I'm trying to wean all my personal email off my work address. Having used it for a week or so the standout feature is one I didn't expect. It is not the "conversation view" (which is nice though), it's not the huge 1000mg storage (I haven't even used 0.1% of that), it is the spellchecker.
It is just easy use. Click on spellchecker and it doesn't open some popup dialogue box showing a fragment of text with a few suggestions and half a dozen choices to ignore or replace or whatever. What it does is highlight anything it believes to be spelling errors in red on your message. It does this on your actual message - no popups. If you click on the red word, about half a dozen alternatives appear, you choose the appropriate one and it corrects the text and turns the word green. Simple. Easy.
You can scroll through you message quickly and easily and not have to hit ignore twenty times. Why can't Word do this? Or blogger indeed?
It is just easy use. Click on spellchecker and it doesn't open some popup dialogue box showing a fragment of text with a few suggestions and half a dozen choices to ignore or replace or whatever. What it does is highlight anything it believes to be spelling errors in red on your message. It does this on your actual message - no popups. If you click on the red word, about half a dozen alternatives appear, you choose the appropriate one and it corrects the text and turns the word green. Simple. Easy.
You can scroll through you message quickly and easily and not have to hit ignore twenty times. Why can't Word do this? Or blogger indeed?
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Opinions
I have plenty of opinions. This blog is full of them. Most people have strong opinions about a variety of things. It's natural. What I don't have any opinions about, strong or otherwise, are some of the people that grace the small screen. My work colleagues however, do.
I am literally surrounded my people who consume television with a passion that is incomprehensible to be. My colleagues frequently vent opinions of those who stared in last nights reality/sitcom/drama program with such feeling and critical analysis that I am left stunned by the passion it has elicited. So and so is a bitch. Can you believe what she/he/it did? Last night was the reveal all, I can't believe you missed it. How can they do that? And so on...
And it is not limited to tv. They have very definite opinions about anyone who falls in the famous category. How the act (on and off screen), what they wear, who they date, how they speak etc. They have strongly held views on people they have never met and who they have learnt about from half a dozen films and/or a few dozen magazine articles.
I am not damning them for this passion. I do not judge them as I too have had strong feelings about tv programs, although not I suspect, the depth of feeling my colleagues do. At one stage I had four hours worth of taped shows to catch up on. It was about then, when I considered the "chore" of getting through the four hours, I decided I would enjoy tv programs, but not let them "rule my life". No tv program was going to decide what I did and when. I don't damn my collegues for their passion, but I do not choose to indulge myself.
Of course between family, work and study I don't have much time for tv anyhow. I probably average three or four hours a week (and some of that is Playschool!). So I will content myself with getting a passionate blow by blow summary of last night televisual extravaganza with my morning cup of tea. I may even learn to enjoy it. It's addictive isn't it?
I am literally surrounded my people who consume television with a passion that is incomprehensible to be. My colleagues frequently vent opinions of those who stared in last nights reality/sitcom/drama program with such feeling and critical analysis that I am left stunned by the passion it has elicited. So and so is a bitch. Can you believe what she/he/it did? Last night was the reveal all, I can't believe you missed it. How can they do that? And so on...
And it is not limited to tv. They have very definite opinions about anyone who falls in the famous category. How the act (on and off screen), what they wear, who they date, how they speak etc. They have strongly held views on people they have never met and who they have learnt about from half a dozen films and/or a few dozen magazine articles.
I am not damning them for this passion. I do not judge them as I too have had strong feelings about tv programs, although not I suspect, the depth of feeling my colleagues do. At one stage I had four hours worth of taped shows to catch up on. It was about then, when I considered the "chore" of getting through the four hours, I decided I would enjoy tv programs, but not let them "rule my life". No tv program was going to decide what I did and when. I don't damn my collegues for their passion, but I do not choose to indulge myself.
Of course between family, work and study I don't have much time for tv anyhow. I probably average three or four hours a week (and some of that is Playschool!). So I will content myself with getting a passionate blow by blow summary of last night televisual extravaganza with my morning cup of tea. I may even learn to enjoy it. It's addictive isn't it?
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
And the password is...
I have a bucketload of passwords. Off hand these are just the computer passwords I have to remember;
I have a password to login to my works computer network
I have a password to login to a Admin account on the same network
I have a password to login to specific quota services on the network
I have a password to login to my works financial system
I have a password to login to my internet banking
I have a password to login to Uni computer account
I have a password to login to Blogger
I have a password to login to my new GMail account
I have a password to login to login to my invigorate stats
I have a password to login to my Footy tipping comp
I have a password to login to my home email/internet account
I have a password to login to Xerox online ordering
I have a password to login to NY Times
I have a password to login to Health Insurance site
That's over a dozen. I'm sure there are others but that is it off the top of my head. Only two of these have the same password and many (quite rightly I suppose) force me to change the password every three months. Those ones also tend to enforce strict alpha numeric and length requirements for passwords.
I'm not alone in this I know. I'd just like to state it's a pain. Is there something better (which is secure)?
I have a password to login to my works computer network
I have a password to login to a Admin account on the same network
I have a password to login to specific quota services on the network
I have a password to login to my works financial system
I have a password to login to my internet banking
I have a password to login to Uni computer account
I have a password to login to Blogger
I have a password to login to my new GMail account
I have a password to login to login to my invigorate stats
I have a password to login to my Footy tipping comp
I have a password to login to my home email/internet account
I have a password to login to Xerox online ordering
I have a password to login to NY Times
I have a password to login to Health Insurance site
That's over a dozen. I'm sure there are others but that is it off the top of my head. Only two of these have the same password and many (quite rightly I suppose) force me to change the password every three months. Those ones also tend to enforce strict alpha numeric and length requirements for passwords.
I'm not alone in this I know. I'd just like to state it's a pain. Is there something better (which is secure)?
Monday, April 26, 2004
Mac learning curve
I feel I'm way behind the learning curve on my Mac.
I've just submitted an assignment for Uni which I did on Final Cut Pro 4. Now I have previously mentioned I love Mac software - it's all easy, friendly, cute, cuddly etc. That may be true for any "i" software but FCP is a real bitch. At first it makes no sense. Then after a short while it seems to make sense and you think "Ok, I get it now." You are wrong. You don't get it.
I spent hours just trying to export my FCP project which ran to 13 seconds. This was no Hollywood blockbuster or even a short film for some contest - it was a simple 13 second assignment. I suspect the problems stemmed from the Photoshop file I was using but I can't be sure. FCP help doesn't reveal anything about the error messages I was getting. Neither does the Apple web site. Neither does Google. I managed to get something to spit out through a series of compromises, but I was not happy.
The second part of this rant regards not FCP, but my Mac (A dual 1ghz G4 with 1gig ram). I think there is something amiss with my mac. I don't really know because I don't have enough experience with macs. I'm too used to Windows. The mac seems slow. I've spoken to a few people who might know but they seem unfazed by my accounts of slow speeds. Everyone thinks there computer is slow. On the weekend it took well over ten minutes to burn a 480meg cd. I didn't time it, but I wish I had. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I drag the files to the cd icon. It then takes quite a few minutes to "copy" them to the disk. I then drag the disk to the trash/eject/burn icon and it then takes quite a few more minutes to burn the sucker. What the #*$% is it doing in that first "copy" faze?
Also the two internal 80gb HDD's seem slow. If I copy stuff off a data DVD it can take hours. If this was a pc, I'd know where to look but with a mac and don't know where to begin. This, combined with the fact I'm too busy/lazy to learn at this stuff at the moment, means I'm well behind the mac learning curve.
I've just submitted an assignment for Uni which I did on Final Cut Pro 4. Now I have previously mentioned I love Mac software - it's all easy, friendly, cute, cuddly etc. That may be true for any "i" software but FCP is a real bitch. At first it makes no sense. Then after a short while it seems to make sense and you think "Ok, I get it now." You are wrong. You don't get it.
I spent hours just trying to export my FCP project which ran to 13 seconds. This was no Hollywood blockbuster or even a short film for some contest - it was a simple 13 second assignment. I suspect the problems stemmed from the Photoshop file I was using but I can't be sure. FCP help doesn't reveal anything about the error messages I was getting. Neither does the Apple web site. Neither does Google. I managed to get something to spit out through a series of compromises, but I was not happy.
The second part of this rant regards not FCP, but my Mac (A dual 1ghz G4 with 1gig ram). I think there is something amiss with my mac. I don't really know because I don't have enough experience with macs. I'm too used to Windows. The mac seems slow. I've spoken to a few people who might know but they seem unfazed by my accounts of slow speeds. Everyone thinks there computer is slow. On the weekend it took well over ten minutes to burn a 480meg cd. I didn't time it, but I wish I had. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong. I drag the files to the cd icon. It then takes quite a few minutes to "copy" them to the disk. I then drag the disk to the trash/eject/burn icon and it then takes quite a few more minutes to burn the sucker. What the #*$% is it doing in that first "copy" faze?
Also the two internal 80gb HDD's seem slow. If I copy stuff off a data DVD it can take hours. If this was a pc, I'd know where to look but with a mac and don't know where to begin. This, combined with the fact I'm too busy/lazy to learn at this stuff at the moment, means I'm well behind the mac learning curve.
Not so ClearType
I looked at a link from Zeldman this morning on Web typography. Through it I discovered a few interesting things about aliased and anti-aliased fonts. I also discovered Windows (XP at least) offers ClearType.
Using an obscure setting in the Control panel you can set your screen fonts to render in ClearType. From what I can gather this is sub pixel anti-aliasing and it makes every font on the screen look nice and smooth. A bit like a printed page and a lot like text in pdf's. I have no idea how they achieve this feat of technical wizardry but it does transform the look of your whole system.
Trouble is, it is hard to read.
My eyesight isn't great. I don't wear glasses, but it is not all that good, so this may be just me. When I turned on ClearType my first reaction was "beautiful" followed shortly after by "Gee - it's kinda hard to read". ClearType seemed to get rid of any black in the font and replace it with grey. I seem to need that extra contrast to help legibility, especially at small font faces.
Word is some new form of ClearType will ship in the new Windows OS (Longhorn?). Looks like I'm going to need glasses.
Using an obscure setting in the Control panel you can set your screen fonts to render in ClearType. From what I can gather this is sub pixel anti-aliasing and it makes every font on the screen look nice and smooth. A bit like a printed page and a lot like text in pdf's. I have no idea how they achieve this feat of technical wizardry but it does transform the look of your whole system.
Trouble is, it is hard to read.
My eyesight isn't great. I don't wear glasses, but it is not all that good, so this may be just me. When I turned on ClearType my first reaction was "beautiful" followed shortly after by "Gee - it's kinda hard to read". ClearType seemed to get rid of any black in the font and replace it with grey. I seem to need that extra contrast to help legibility, especially at small font faces.
Word is some new form of ClearType will ship in the new Windows OS (Longhorn?). Looks like I'm going to need glasses.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Firefox
This morning when I got into work I booted up my PC and opened 12 separate web pages. Thank god for Firefox. Firefox is a browser from Mozilla which is sort of a open source off shoot of the old Netscape browser. As an alternative to Microsoft's internet explorer it is fantastic as well as free.
For me the major feature is tabbed browsing. To open those 12 pages, I just opened Firefox and Ctrl clicked on the 12 pages I wanted from my bookmarks. I had already seen a brief outline of the content of some of the blogs I read via SharpReader (a RSS reader) so it was easy to open the ones I wanted up plus some other news info sites I try to visit when I can. The beauty of it all is I can load all 12 pages at once and move around them reading bits and pieces while I wait for other pages to load. If I want to check another site I can Ctrl click a bookmark and get another new tab. Its fast, easy and standadrds compliant.
Having said that I still keep Internet Explorer 6 as my default browser. I use Firefox daily but some sites are made with only IE in mind so I need to keep it there. Also I seem to have a PDF problem with Firefox, in that it crashes when I try to close a page with a PDF document open on it. But I think that is more to do with my system (which has Acrobat 5 and Acrobat Reader 6) than with Firefox
So I can recommend that if you want more bang for your buck when surfing, get Firefox.
For me the major feature is tabbed browsing. To open those 12 pages, I just opened Firefox and Ctrl clicked on the 12 pages I wanted from my bookmarks. I had already seen a brief outline of the content of some of the blogs I read via SharpReader (a RSS reader) so it was easy to open the ones I wanted up plus some other news info sites I try to visit when I can. The beauty of it all is I can load all 12 pages at once and move around them reading bits and pieces while I wait for other pages to load. If I want to check another site I can Ctrl click a bookmark and get another new tab. Its fast, easy and standadrds compliant.
Having said that I still keep Internet Explorer 6 as my default browser. I use Firefox daily but some sites are made with only IE in mind so I need to keep it there. Also I seem to have a PDF problem with Firefox, in that it crashes when I try to close a page with a PDF document open on it. But I think that is more to do with my system (which has Acrobat 5 and Acrobat Reader 6) than with Firefox
So I can recommend that if you want more bang for your buck when surfing, get Firefox.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Close Shave
Back in mid December I stopped shaving. I'd never grown a beard and I thought it was about time to give it a shot. It looked pretty scraggly for over a month before it started to fill out a little. It ended up reasonably thick in the 'goatee' area but thin on the sides. Various people said they like it and about the same amount said they didn't.
Eventually it had filled out all it was going to and I had a pretty good idea of what I looked like with a beard. It was OK but the main attraction had been the lack of shaving. While I was definitely spending less time shaving, I still had to shave below the beard line a few times a week and should have been getting it trimmed more than I did.
For the last week or so I have thought it has been time it went. I found the time today to walk down to the barber today and opted for the 'hot towel shave'. It was quite an experience. First he removed most of the beard with electric clippers. Then I got some sort of eucalyptus 'pre shave' rubbed on. Next a very comprehensive lather with shaving soap. Then the shave. He was very careful (thankfully!) and very thorough and he took about 15 minutes to shave. Next came the hot towel. It was whacked on my chin and he gave my face a disconcerting vigorous rub. The towel had some scent (bay rum?) on it and I had it shoved into my pores with some force. Then was some more eucalyptus (post shave I assume) and a spray of after shave accompanied by a few slaps on the cheek.
The whole thing had taken about 40 minutes (about 30 minutes longer than a normal haircut) and was such a singular experience I almost want to grow another beard to experience it again!
Eventually it had filled out all it was going to and I had a pretty good idea of what I looked like with a beard. It was OK but the main attraction had been the lack of shaving. While I was definitely spending less time shaving, I still had to shave below the beard line a few times a week and should have been getting it trimmed more than I did.
For the last week or so I have thought it has been time it went. I found the time today to walk down to the barber today and opted for the 'hot towel shave'. It was quite an experience. First he removed most of the beard with electric clippers. Then I got some sort of eucalyptus 'pre shave' rubbed on. Next a very comprehensive lather with shaving soap. Then the shave. He was very careful (thankfully!) and very thorough and he took about 15 minutes to shave. Next came the hot towel. It was whacked on my chin and he gave my face a disconcerting vigorous rub. The towel had some scent (bay rum?) on it and I had it shoved into my pores with some force. Then was some more eucalyptus (post shave I assume) and a spray of after shave accompanied by a few slaps on the cheek.
The whole thing had taken about 40 minutes (about 30 minutes longer than a normal haircut) and was such a singular experience I almost want to grow another beard to experience it again!
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Triumvirate of values
When I was younger I developed a theory of my life I called (rather grandly) my Triumvirate of values. The theory was there were three main areas in my life and they naturally tended towards equilibrium. The areas, which show my preoccupations at the time, were work/study, social life and my car.
The way it worked was if my car was running well and work or study was going well then my social life was crap. If social life and study were up my car was breaking down. The equilibrium state was either two up, one down, or all three at a mid level (work/study just OK, social life not bad, not good, car running but perhaps panel damage).
It was rare for all three to be down or all three up. And if that were the case I always knew things would be changing soon and generally it was the car that upset the balance.
Now ten years later my car is again upsetting the balance. It's been into service twice in the last month, costing a scary amount in very necessary repairs. I've spent money of general servicing, brakes (twice), a expensive air flow meter, a harmonic balancer and on getting the dash lights finally working. Now the radio display sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.
And today, my wife who had the car, was involved in a minor accident. Nothing major I'm told, it's drivable etc. But my car is once again upsetting the delicate balance of my stupid old Triumvirate. Bummer.
The way it worked was if my car was running well and work or study was going well then my social life was crap. If social life and study were up my car was breaking down. The equilibrium state was either two up, one down, or all three at a mid level (work/study just OK, social life not bad, not good, car running but perhaps panel damage).
It was rare for all three to be down or all three up. And if that were the case I always knew things would be changing soon and generally it was the car that upset the balance.
Now ten years later my car is again upsetting the balance. It's been into service twice in the last month, costing a scary amount in very necessary repairs. I've spent money of general servicing, brakes (twice), a expensive air flow meter, a harmonic balancer and on getting the dash lights finally working. Now the radio display sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.
And today, my wife who had the car, was involved in a minor accident. Nothing major I'm told, it's drivable etc. But my car is once again upsetting the delicate balance of my stupid old Triumvirate. Bummer.
Hello said Fred
The carpark attendants name is Fred. He works afternoon to night shift at the carpark where I park, about a block from work. He is a nice guy, early 60's probably who works in a boring, low paid job with shitty hours. And he likes to talk.
Since he started working there, I have always said Hello or Goodbye. As the months passed that grew into a brief exchange along the lines of "How was your day?" as I left the carpark at night. And now it is growing towards full blown conversation. Fred is interested in traffic, the weather, religion, cars people drive, other people who park there, the restaurants that back onto the carpark, politics, dogs, international affairs, the latest news headlines - pretty much anything and everything.
This is understandable. He must be bored out of his mind working there. Trouble is - and I know this is uncharitable - I just want to go home. I don't really want to have even a two minute discussion on religion, I want to go home. It has got to the point where I hope someone will queue up behind my car so I can cast a meaningful glance backwards and say "Well, I'd better go now." I'm even beginning to try and hurry to my car and get to the boom gates before others so that I can use queue excuse.
Oh, the alienation of modern life...
Since he started working there, I have always said Hello or Goodbye. As the months passed that grew into a brief exchange along the lines of "How was your day?" as I left the carpark at night. And now it is growing towards full blown conversation. Fred is interested in traffic, the weather, religion, cars people drive, other people who park there, the restaurants that back onto the carpark, politics, dogs, international affairs, the latest news headlines - pretty much anything and everything.
This is understandable. He must be bored out of his mind working there. Trouble is - and I know this is uncharitable - I just want to go home. I don't really want to have even a two minute discussion on religion, I want to go home. It has got to the point where I hope someone will queue up behind my car so I can cast a meaningful glance backwards and say "Well, I'd better go now." I'm even beginning to try and hurry to my car and get to the boom gates before others so that I can use queue excuse.
Oh, the alienation of modern life...
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Ikea
On Sunday I helped out the world's richest man. No, nothing to do with Microsoft - due to currency fluctuations that title is no longer held by Billy Gates. Instead Ingvar Kamprad, the guy who founded Ikea, is number one.
My contribution to his vast wealth was the profit he made in selling me our new coffee table, improbably named Bankesta. I think Ikea must have to hire a team of people just to make up names for all it's stuff. Every little thing they sell has its own name and not "Blue Plastic Jug" but something like Kringald (colour blue). They do a good job of finding so many names that sound kind of Scandanavian and kind of right but don't actually mean anything.
Anyhow after an hour or so playing with screw drivers I had assembled our Bankesta. It replaces a coffee table that was built for us as a house warming gift five years ago. It was a great table but it didn't have two key attributes that the Bankesta has. Storage (the Bankesta has two big boxes underneath) and rounded corners. The old table had sharp pointy corners that were great for jabbing kids and adult alike. We tried putting corner protectors on them (purchased from Ikea if I recall correctly) but due to the beveled edge they kept falling off.
It has occurred to me that another reason why Ingvar may have toppled Billy from top spot was that if I wanted to upgrade my home pc to a newer version of windows I wouldn't spend an hour or so with screw drivers getting a finished product. Instead I'd spend fours hours trying to upgrade encountering one small glitch after the next only to end up with a system that runs slower than the one I had (unless I spent more money on hardware of course - that old vicious circle).
And that is why I still run Windows 98 on my home PC.
My contribution to his vast wealth was the profit he made in selling me our new coffee table, improbably named Bankesta. I think Ikea must have to hire a team of people just to make up names for all it's stuff. Every little thing they sell has its own name and not "Blue Plastic Jug" but something like Kringald (colour blue). They do a good job of finding so many names that sound kind of Scandanavian and kind of right but don't actually mean anything.
Anyhow after an hour or so playing with screw drivers I had assembled our Bankesta. It replaces a coffee table that was built for us as a house warming gift five years ago. It was a great table but it didn't have two key attributes that the Bankesta has. Storage (the Bankesta has two big boxes underneath) and rounded corners. The old table had sharp pointy corners that were great for jabbing kids and adult alike. We tried putting corner protectors on them (purchased from Ikea if I recall correctly) but due to the beveled edge they kept falling off.
It has occurred to me that another reason why Ingvar may have toppled Billy from top spot was that if I wanted to upgrade my home pc to a newer version of windows I wouldn't spend an hour or so with screw drivers getting a finished product. Instead I'd spend fours hours trying to upgrade encountering one small glitch after the next only to end up with a system that runs slower than the one I had (unless I spent more money on hardware of course - that old vicious circle).
And that is why I still run Windows 98 on my home PC.
It doesn't really hurt.
Well it seems that all those villains out there downloading free music over the internet aren't actually hurting cd sales all that much, if at all. A draft report by a couple of mathematicians analysed behaviour of downloaders and discovered they weren't going to go out and buy the cd's they downloaded - they were just attracted by the price - it was free!
I suppose that means that those downloading villains who really like a artist tend to go out and buy the cd rather than searching for the free download. Those who are a bit more ambivalent will get the download. Sort of like your own private radio - if you want to listen to it, you'll download it. But if your are a "fan" you'll buy it. When I was younger if I just wanted to listen to it, I'd either listen to a radio station that played that sort of music or get a tape of it off a friend if I could.
This report is really going to mess up a few law suits. Yes what they are doing is illegal, but no, it isn't costing the record companies much in the way of revenue.
I suppose that means that those downloading villains who really like a artist tend to go out and buy the cd rather than searching for the free download. Those who are a bit more ambivalent will get the download. Sort of like your own private radio - if you want to listen to it, you'll download it. But if your are a "fan" you'll buy it. When I was younger if I just wanted to listen to it, I'd either listen to a radio station that played that sort of music or get a tape of it off a friend if I could.
This report is really going to mess up a few law suits. Yes what they are doing is illegal, but no, it isn't costing the record companies much in the way of revenue.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Hockey and manual cars
I played hockey on Sunday. For the first in six months I walked onto a hockey field and then hobbled off an hour or so later. My whole body, in particular my legs, aches.
I really enjoy hockey but, as my free time is tight, I generally only play during regular winter season and I don't really train, just turn up and play on weekends. For the last few years I've felt like this after my first couple of games.
On the weekend I played left half. A good position to start as it shouldn't involve too much running and I could coast a bit. After ten minutes everything was going OK, but then I did a short sprint to get in front of my player and intercept a ball. It worked and I passed it off OK, but then my left thigh started telling me it wasn't happy. In fact it was rather upset about this whole sprint thing and it wouldn't be letting me do that again. By half time, after a few more attempts to move with some speed my right leg had joined in the protest and now my left leg was becoming quite insistent.
Since walking off the field at full time (we won - yay!) various muscles in my body have been reminding me just how foolish I am. I accept all this (as I can't do anything about it) and have been walking, sitting, lying and generally moving very gingerly as a result.
Now this morning I took the Saab back to the garage to have a few things fixed up (I won't bore you further with the details, something about a new flux capacitor or something). I was given a loan car for the day.
"Are you OK with a manual?" I was asked.
"Yeah, no worries".
A manual car poses no real problem in theory. While I drive an automatic I am fine with manual cars as well. But once I got in I realised my left leg was now going to have to press the clutch to the floor - not once but many times on the way to work - and it wasn't all that keen.
I now ache some more. Curse manual cars!
I really enjoy hockey but, as my free time is tight, I generally only play during regular winter season and I don't really train, just turn up and play on weekends. For the last few years I've felt like this after my first couple of games.
On the weekend I played left half. A good position to start as it shouldn't involve too much running and I could coast a bit. After ten minutes everything was going OK, but then I did a short sprint to get in front of my player and intercept a ball. It worked and I passed it off OK, but then my left thigh started telling me it wasn't happy. In fact it was rather upset about this whole sprint thing and it wouldn't be letting me do that again. By half time, after a few more attempts to move with some speed my right leg had joined in the protest and now my left leg was becoming quite insistent.
Since walking off the field at full time (we won - yay!) various muscles in my body have been reminding me just how foolish I am. I accept all this (as I can't do anything about it) and have been walking, sitting, lying and generally moving very gingerly as a result.
Now this morning I took the Saab back to the garage to have a few things fixed up (I won't bore you further with the details, something about a new flux capacitor or something). I was given a loan car for the day.
"Are you OK with a manual?" I was asked.
"Yeah, no worries".
A manual car poses no real problem in theory. While I drive an automatic I am fine with manual cars as well. But once I got in I realised my left leg was now going to have to press the clutch to the floor - not once but many times on the way to work - and it wasn't all that keen.
I now ache some more. Curse manual cars!
Lemons
I've been re-reading Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart and enjoying it greatly. I first bought it a few years back and then I lent it to someone. It was only last week that I found it again, not in my bookshelf but someone else's. That's the good thing about borrowing and lending books, what goes around comes around. While this person had my book, I no doubt have some of theirs. Or if not theirs then someone else's. That's just how it works.
Still I wonder how many other books that I enjoyed and passed onto friends remain out there waiting for me to rediscover them.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Photo Blog
I'm barely keeping this blog alive (in terms of entries), but I want a photoblog. I saw this one recently and it reminded me that I really like the idea. I tend to think I'd struggle to do a pic a day or anything as well crafted as some of those out there but we all have to start somewhere.
I know I could turn this into a photo blog of sorts but it would require some server space somewhere for the photos and quite a bit of tweaking and even then it isn't going to look as nice as some of the photoblogs out there.
I going to have to look into getting a domain, some hosting and some sort of cms.
I know I could turn this into a photo blog of sorts but it would require some server space somewhere for the photos and quite a bit of tweaking and even then it isn't going to look as nice as some of the photoblogs out there.
I going to have to look into getting a domain, some hosting and some sort of cms.
Site Stats
Since I set up this little blog I've been using Extreme to see if anyone other than me has been reading it (it appears not).
Now, in order to get a really clear idea of who isn't reading my site I've signed up for another free service, RE_INVIGORATE.
At first look it seems really cool. So if anyone reads this then I'll let you know...
Now, in order to get a really clear idea of who isn't reading my site I've signed up for another free service, RE_INVIGORATE.
At first look it seems really cool. So if anyone reads this then I'll let you know...
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Rental Cars
We were all away for five days in Adelaide recently and while we were there we drove a rental car. I've driven a rental car before while on holidays but it was a small budget model - this was different, it was a nice big Ford Falcon. A family car.
On the day of the flight I was rather stupidly looking forward to getting the car. When I finally did get it, it was nice. It took all our luggage much easier than our own car, it was new (less that 4,000k's and still with that new car smell), and it was comfortable with glacial air conditioning on a hot day. It felt like a very grown up thing to do, to be renting a "proper" car. What can I say? - I'm in my 30's with a wife and two kids but this still felt like doing an adult thing.
And the best part about a rental car? When you child throws up all over the new velour, it's not your car and after a basic clean you can hand it back.
On the day of the flight I was rather stupidly looking forward to getting the car. When I finally did get it, it was nice. It took all our luggage much easier than our own car, it was new (less that 4,000k's and still with that new car smell), and it was comfortable with glacial air conditioning on a hot day. It felt like a very grown up thing to do, to be renting a "proper" car. What can I say? - I'm in my 30's with a wife and two kids but this still felt like doing an adult thing.
And the best part about a rental car? When you child throws up all over the new velour, it's not your car and after a basic clean you can hand it back.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Bottle
I was sitting enjoying the view from a window on the first floor this morning while waiting for a computer to boot when something caught my eye.
A courier was sitting in his van opposite and I saw him pick up his jacket. No big deal, it is a bit of a grey day, perhaps its cold out. But no he draped it over the steering wheel. He then fetched a plastic bottle from the passenger seat. A plastic 2 litre milk bottle I believe. He took the lid off the bottle and concealed it under the jacket.
30 seconds or so past. He stared idly out his windows. A pedestrian or two walked by. He then removed the bottle, sealed it and folded up his jacket. A few moments later he opened his door a little, looked quickly around and poured from his bottle a couple of hundred mills of yellow liquid onto the road. He then closed the door, resealed the bottle again, put on his seatbelt, spoke a brief sentence or two on his radio and drove off.
Delightful. I don't have a window at my desk and so miss out on this sort of thing. What a pity.
A courier was sitting in his van opposite and I saw him pick up his jacket. No big deal, it is a bit of a grey day, perhaps its cold out. But no he draped it over the steering wheel. He then fetched a plastic bottle from the passenger seat. A plastic 2 litre milk bottle I believe. He took the lid off the bottle and concealed it under the jacket.
30 seconds or so past. He stared idly out his windows. A pedestrian or two walked by. He then removed the bottle, sealed it and folded up his jacket. A few moments later he opened his door a little, looked quickly around and poured from his bottle a couple of hundred mills of yellow liquid onto the road. He then closed the door, resealed the bottle again, put on his seatbelt, spoke a brief sentence or two on his radio and drove off.
Delightful. I don't have a window at my desk and so miss out on this sort of thing. What a pity.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Lego
I was waiting with the kids to catch a flight yesterday. Kids are not equipped to be especially good at waiting, particularly in airports, so we had a walk around the terminal. Now this was Adelaide domestic airport and it isn't particularly big or elaborate. You still get to walk on the tarmac at Adelaide which is kinda fun (and the plane empties quickly because half the people go out the backdoor).
Our stroll around the terminal took all of two or three minutes but we did find a new vending machine we hadn't seen before tucked in behind the men's toilets. It sold lego. About a dozen different small boxes of lego sat on a little shelf at the back of the machine marked A1 or B3 etc. to show you what was available and a grid of boxes sat horizontally in front of this. It looked like a robot arm was designed to pick these up and drop them in the pickup slot.
The kids were mildly interested but I thought the vending machine looked cool and wanted to get something. A quick trip back to where my wife was waiting and we managed to whinge enough to extract $8 (I was broke) to buy the cheapest little lego car. Back to the machine and in goes the money. We punch in A1 and the arm extends out beautifully, picks up a box by suction I think and drops it in the collection slot. It was great!
Trouble for the vending company is for our $8 the robotic arm picked B3, a $16 lego car, and dumped it in the collection slot. Lovely!
(The downside was I spent the next 15 minutes trying to get the thing together! Two small bits were hidden inside a rubber wheel and I didn't see them! It's not my fault I took so long!)
Our stroll around the terminal took all of two or three minutes but we did find a new vending machine we hadn't seen before tucked in behind the men's toilets. It sold lego. About a dozen different small boxes of lego sat on a little shelf at the back of the machine marked A1 or B3 etc. to show you what was available and a grid of boxes sat horizontally in front of this. It looked like a robot arm was designed to pick these up and drop them in the pickup slot.
The kids were mildly interested but I thought the vending machine looked cool and wanted to get something. A quick trip back to where my wife was waiting and we managed to whinge enough to extract $8 (I was broke) to buy the cheapest little lego car. Back to the machine and in goes the money. We punch in A1 and the arm extends out beautifully, picks up a box by suction I think and drops it in the collection slot. It was great!
Trouble for the vending company is for our $8 the robotic arm picked B3, a $16 lego car, and dumped it in the collection slot. Lovely!
(The downside was I spent the next 15 minutes trying to get the thing together! Two small bits were hidden inside a rubber wheel and I didn't see them! It's not my fault I took so long!)
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Organised
Oh the delights of a really big portable hard drive! I have spent the last few days gathering files from various hard disk and cd-rom and finally compiling them all together on my new 120gb portable hard drive.
There are three folders on the drive - one for study, one for work and one for projects (which is anything that isn't work or study). In those folders are sub folders for each year and I finally have everything more or less in it's correct place.
No more loose files with obscure file names lying around - if I want to keep it, it gets it own folder complete with I name I can understand at a glance. All those weird .exe files have all been deleted or packed neatly into their own folders. All my Uni files have been moved off zip disks or cd's and are now sitting in one folder for easy reference. All those 'projects' like a friends son's birthday card etc - all in their own folder!
This is great - I wish I'd done it earlier. In fact I wish it was possible to organise my house this easily!
Now, how am I going to back this thing up...?
There are three folders on the drive - one for study, one for work and one for projects (which is anything that isn't work or study). In those folders are sub folders for each year and I finally have everything more or less in it's correct place.
No more loose files with obscure file names lying around - if I want to keep it, it gets it own folder complete with I name I can understand at a glance. All those weird .exe files have all been deleted or packed neatly into their own folders. All my Uni files have been moved off zip disks or cd's and are now sitting in one folder for easy reference. All those 'projects' like a friends son's birthday card etc - all in their own folder!
This is great - I wish I'd done it earlier. In fact I wish it was possible to organise my house this easily!
Now, how am I going to back this thing up...?
Monday, March 22, 2004
French Fair
We went for a walk down to a nearby primary school on Sunday to enjoy their school fair or fete. The school is a bilingual one - it has lessons held in English and French. The fair was full of jumping castles, mechanical rides, fair floss, face painting and petting zoo. The kids loved it and would have stayed all day. They both loved a simple little merry go round - horses and ducks bobbing slowly up and down in a circle.
The most remarkable thing about the whole fair, apart from the size (it was much bigger than we had anticipated) was the food. There was an obvious French element. Crepes, baguettes and would you believe escargot? Yep - across the path from the crepes with lemon and sugar and the ham and cheese baguettes there was a stall selling snails. Yum.
The most remarkable thing about the whole fair, apart from the size (it was much bigger than we had anticipated) was the food. There was an obvious French element. Crepes, baguettes and would you believe escargot? Yep - across the path from the crepes with lemon and sugar and the ham and cheese baguettes there was a stall selling snails. Yum.
Friday, March 19, 2004
Mac RAM
I have just ordered 512k RAM for my mac. Now macs are widely applauded for their general ease of use and for the most part this is well deserved. All the "i" apps that I've used are great and finder, now that I'm used to it, is a pleasure to navigate in the multipane view. That said getting ram for your mac sucks.
PC's have heaps of problems with hardware compatibility I know, but trying to work out just what ram I should be putting in the mac was a torturous process. Do Apple change the ram specs every time they release a new model? From what I can see every mac ever built uses a different kind of ram!
Fingers crossed I ordered the right one.
(PS From the way I go on about macs in this blog you'd think I was a mac addict. Truth is I spend 90% of my computer time on pc's - and I'm generally quite happy with my works P4/XP machine. Macs are just new to me and that makes them interesting I suppose.)
PC's have heaps of problems with hardware compatibility I know, but trying to work out just what ram I should be putting in the mac was a torturous process. Do Apple change the ram specs every time they release a new model? From what I can see every mac ever built uses a different kind of ram!
Fingers crossed I ordered the right one.
(PS From the way I go on about macs in this blog you'd think I was a mac addict. Truth is I spend 90% of my computer time on pc's - and I'm generally quite happy with my works P4/XP machine. Macs are just new to me and that makes them interesting I suppose.)
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Shoes
I wore odd shoes to work today. On my left foot was my spiffy, polished, reasonably new work type shoe. On my right foot was my old, very worn around the house type shoe. No one noticed.
It proves two things. I shouldn't get dressed in the dark and no one looks at my feet. So much for the proverb you judge a man by his shoes.
It proves two things. I shouldn't get dressed in the dark and no one looks at my feet. So much for the proverb you judge a man by his shoes.
iTunes
iTunes tells me I have 1247 songs which is 3.5 days worth of music and takes up 4.66gb worth of music. Having almost all my cd's on my pc at work and mac at home has led me to rediscover my music. I'm listening to cd's I have ignored for years and I've even started to purchase some new music again. The record companies will be glad to hear that I'm sure.
When I was entering the cd's to the iTunes collection I was impressed by the ease of it all. I'd previously used a great little media player, zinf. But with iTunes it's just easier as ripping, burning and sorting are all easy and built in. The other thing that struck me as I ripped all my music into iTunes was that the bulk of my music was from the early to mid nineties. After 1997 I just bought fewer and fewer cd's. This was also the time I met my wife so I clearly had other things to occupy me.
Also I ripped all the music in the Apple AAC format - I hope that decision doesn't come back to bite me. When I'd been using zinf I used the ogg vorbis codec as it is better quality than mp3. Good as it is iTunes doesn't know a ogg vorbis file from a plate of ham and eggs, so I had to rerip quite a few cd's.
So now I'm listening to more music (albeit quietly at work) and enjoying it more. Now all I have to do is convince my wife we really really need and iPod...
When I was entering the cd's to the iTunes collection I was impressed by the ease of it all. I'd previously used a great little media player, zinf. But with iTunes it's just easier as ripping, burning and sorting are all easy and built in. The other thing that struck me as I ripped all my music into iTunes was that the bulk of my music was from the early to mid nineties. After 1997 I just bought fewer and fewer cd's. This was also the time I met my wife so I clearly had other things to occupy me.
Also I ripped all the music in the Apple AAC format - I hope that decision doesn't come back to bite me. When I'd been using zinf I used the ogg vorbis codec as it is better quality than mp3. Good as it is iTunes doesn't know a ogg vorbis file from a plate of ham and eggs, so I had to rerip quite a few cd's.
So now I'm listening to more music (albeit quietly at work) and enjoying it more. Now all I have to do is convince my wife we really really need and iPod...
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Driving on the left
Friends for Germany are visiting at the moment and I was driving them back to where they were staying after dinner last night. We were talking about how strange it was for them to be driving on the left - everything seemed out of whack.
I told them I had a dim memory of it being something to so with knights of medieval times passing each other with their sword arms (right arms) in the middle of the road. They were more of the opinion that it was just a hangover from the British Empire and a case of the British being bloody minded and not conforming to the norm.
A bit of investigation turns out we are both sort of right. About a third of the world drives on the left and they are mainly ex British colonies (Japan, which also drives on the left, being a notable exception). Back before 1800 or so pretty much everyone was thought to have driven on the left - although it isn't really known. There is evidence the Romans drove on the left. Then Napoleon came along and France and its conquests started driving on the right - allegedly because Napoleon was a left hander and wanted his sword arm in the middle - while this may not be true it is a good story.
So ex British Colony Australia drives on the left and ex Napoleonic conquest Germany drives on the right.
I told them I had a dim memory of it being something to so with knights of medieval times passing each other with their sword arms (right arms) in the middle of the road. They were more of the opinion that it was just a hangover from the British Empire and a case of the British being bloody minded and not conforming to the norm.
A bit of investigation turns out we are both sort of right. About a third of the world drives on the left and they are mainly ex British colonies (Japan, which also drives on the left, being a notable exception). Back before 1800 or so pretty much everyone was thought to have driven on the left - although it isn't really known. There is evidence the Romans drove on the left. Then Napoleon came along and France and its conquests started driving on the right - allegedly because Napoleon was a left hander and wanted his sword arm in the middle - while this may not be true it is a good story.
So ex British Colony Australia drives on the left and ex Napoleonic conquest Germany drives on the right.
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Harmonic Balancer
My father (the one who tried to teach me about cars as a teenager) has told me the harmonic balancer does indeed exist and it's purpose is as a sort of balancer (harmonic presumably) for the engines revs. It stops the engine revving until it explodes. Well sort of. He explained it better than that. I never was very good with cars...
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Mac, XP and Fat32
Well my external USB2/Firewire drive arrived as promised. I plugged it into my windows XP box and it failed to show up. Some investigation revealed it was trying to show up as a drive I already had mapped. No worries I remapped it to r: drive. Easy.
A small note in the manual caught my attention here. It informed me if I wanted to use it on a Mac and a PC it would need to be reformatted as a FAT32 file system. Easy I thought. Selected it, right clicked, chose Format - away we go. But windows XP didn't offer me a FAT32 selection, just NTFS (which Mac can't read, or perhaps can read but can't write, I'm not quite sure).
Some hours, and several goggle searches later, this is what I had discovered. I could format FAT32 in XP via the DOS window but it would limit the drive to 32gb. Same for Windows 2000. They can read FAT32 drives over 32gb, just can't format them. Windows 98 can format happily my full 120gb drive. No windows 98 machine? No problem, just download a Win98SE (and it has to be second edition) boot disk and go from DOS. DOS not picking up your USB drive? Dismantle it, open up your computer, unplug your internal Hard drive and plug the one out of the portable in - away you go! Easy.
I did all this and I now have a nice 120gb that can be easily read and written to by Mac and Windows machines. The problem with this is FAT32 has a maximum individual file size of 4gb. As I intend to use the drive for some video editing this may be a problem. There is however a possible solution. While normally the Mac file system, HFS+, doesn't like sharing with FAT32 you can convince it to. The article linked above goes through it in more detail than I can understand but put simply you divide the drive into two partitions using a windows machine and use a Mac to put HFS+ file system onto one of those partitions. It works but no one seems confident that it is an entirely safe and stable solution.
Mac's and PC's don't really like each other.
A small note in the manual caught my attention here. It informed me if I wanted to use it on a Mac and a PC it would need to be reformatted as a FAT32 file system. Easy I thought. Selected it, right clicked, chose Format - away we go. But windows XP didn't offer me a FAT32 selection, just NTFS (which Mac can't read, or perhaps can read but can't write, I'm not quite sure).
Some hours, and several goggle searches later, this is what I had discovered. I could format FAT32 in XP via the DOS window but it would limit the drive to 32gb. Same for Windows 2000. They can read FAT32 drives over 32gb, just can't format them. Windows 98 can format happily my full 120gb drive. No windows 98 machine? No problem, just download a Win98SE (and it has to be second edition) boot disk and go from DOS. DOS not picking up your USB drive? Dismantle it, open up your computer, unplug your internal Hard drive and plug the one out of the portable in - away you go! Easy.
I did all this and I now have a nice 120gb that can be easily read and written to by Mac and Windows machines. The problem with this is FAT32 has a maximum individual file size of 4gb. As I intend to use the drive for some video editing this may be a problem. There is however a possible solution. While normally the Mac file system, HFS+, doesn't like sharing with FAT32 you can convince it to. The article linked above goes through it in more detail than I can understand but put simply you divide the drive into two partitions using a windows machine and use a Mac to put HFS+ file system onto one of those partitions. It works but no one seems confident that it is an entirely safe and stable solution.
Mac's and PC's don't really like each other.
Friday, March 12, 2004
Car Repairs
I drive a fifteen year old european car - an old SAAB 900. I like it and I'm vain enough to prefer it to a ten year old japanese or korean car, which I could have probably got for the same price when I bought it a few years ago.
For the last week or so something had been wrong with the engine - not really sure what but it seem to be something with the fuel not getting to the engine at times - to the point where it would stop once or twice on the way to work. I know very little about cars (despite my fathers best efforts) so a trip to the mechanic is always interesting.
It was due a service so I booked it in and got a call a few hours after i had dropped it off.
"We'll need to do the brake seals - about $150."
"Ok" I say, thinking brake seals, know roughly what they are. Sounds important. "Yep go ahead."
"Timing case seal doesn't look good either".
"Um OK I say." Timing case, I'm sure I've heard of that, I'm sure that must be kinda important.
"But if we take of the timing case and find the Harmonic Balancer is worn we'll need to replace that to. It'll be about $200 for the timing case and about $230 for the balancer including the labour."
"Um OK sure - so do you think it needs done?" This is what I say but I'm actually thinking "What the f*** is a harmonic balancer?"
"Yep - may as well do it now that the car is in. It'll need doing soon enough."
"OK go ahead."
So $947.10 later my car is back and working very nicely. When I picked it up the service manager even showed me the old harmonic balancer. It was a steel disc the size of a small plate but much thicker. It had a steel insert with rubber joining the insert to the outside of the disc. The rubber had indeed deteriorated and I was told that it would be bad if it broke away. Fair enough.
I still don't really know what function it serves but you've just got to trust that your mechanic isn't playing a cruel practical joke on you, don't you?
For the last week or so something had been wrong with the engine - not really sure what but it seem to be something with the fuel not getting to the engine at times - to the point where it would stop once or twice on the way to work. I know very little about cars (despite my fathers best efforts) so a trip to the mechanic is always interesting.
It was due a service so I booked it in and got a call a few hours after i had dropped it off.
"We'll need to do the brake seals - about $150."
"Ok" I say, thinking brake seals, know roughly what they are. Sounds important. "Yep go ahead."
"Timing case seal doesn't look good either".
"Um OK I say." Timing case, I'm sure I've heard of that, I'm sure that must be kinda important.
"But if we take of the timing case and find the Harmonic Balancer is worn we'll need to replace that to. It'll be about $200 for the timing case and about $230 for the balancer including the labour."
"Um OK sure - so do you think it needs done?" This is what I say but I'm actually thinking "What the f*** is a harmonic balancer?"
"Yep - may as well do it now that the car is in. It'll need doing soon enough."
"OK go ahead."
So $947.10 later my car is back and working very nicely. When I picked it up the service manager even showed me the old harmonic balancer. It was a steel disc the size of a small plate but much thicker. It had a steel insert with rubber joining the insert to the outside of the disc. The rubber had indeed deteriorated and I was told that it would be bad if it broke away. Fair enough.
I still don't really know what function it serves but you've just got to trust that your mechanic isn't playing a cruel practical joke on you, don't you?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
And another one
Yep - another member of staff has gone off to see if the grass is greener at a rival.
Donating
I always seem to find a few dollars for a charity that comes knocking at my door. And we've bought Christmas presents through World Vision for a few years but on the whole I, indeed we as a family, don't donate a great deal of money.
I occasionally read a blog caoine, and I gather she gets a bit of money through the Amazon referrals program (7.5% of the purchase price). She has decided to give this money direct to a charity.
This got me thinking about charity and donating. I had a look at the websites of several Australian branches of international charities - Oxfam (Community Aid Abroad), Unicef , Medecins Sans Frontiere, and World Vision. I earn a decent wage why cant I donate 1 or 2% of my wage, even my after tax wage to charity? $500 or $1,000 per annum? $2 a day. It's not a lot really...
I occasionally read a blog caoine, and I gather she gets a bit of money through the Amazon referrals program (7.5% of the purchase price). She has decided to give this money direct to a charity.
This got me thinking about charity and donating. I had a look at the websites of several Australian branches of international charities - Oxfam (Community Aid Abroad), Unicef , Medecins Sans Frontiere, and World Vision. I earn a decent wage why cant I donate 1 or 2% of my wage, even my after tax wage to charity? $500 or $1,000 per annum? $2 a day. It's not a lot really...
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Email woe
I just bought a portable hard drive on line from epowermac.com.au. Their server automatically sent me a confirmation email which despite being text only was blocked by my corporate mail sweeping server.
After epowermac.com.au rang me regarding delivery, I pointed this out to them and they asked me to forward them the email. When I forwarded them the email their server blocked the forward as possible spam.
Technology - gotta love it!
After epowermac.com.au rang me regarding delivery, I pointed this out to them and they asked me to forward them the email. When I forwarded them the email their server blocked the forward as possible spam.
Technology - gotta love it!
Monday, March 08, 2004
iMovie easy
While I use a pc at work and at home I recently got gifted a second hand G4 mac. I've had it a few months and only played with it a bit but yesterday I fired up iMovie and started to put together a movie of my kids birthday.
iMovie is easy. Easy and very good. I had started it before and had a quick play but I hadn't really done much and I didn't appreciate just how easy it is to use. It was so simple to put together a short movie of birthday highlights with some titles and cross fades and a music track I almost couldn't believe it. As I have not quiet finished it I still feel there must be a catch - will it be difficult to output it to DVD in a format I can use?
My experience with mac's and mac software is very limited. I do have iTunes on my pc and that too is simple to use. I find that both iTunes and iMovie seem to make the basics very easy to do and don't get bogged down with advanced features. It may not be a good comparison but I feel that if I used iMovie regularly for a few months I'd have a good idea of every feature it offers. I use Microsoft Word daily and have done for years and still don't know all the features it offers.
I don't know if all mac software is this straightforward - I've had a quick look at Final Cut Pro and it seems to be very feature rich and much less straight forward to use. As I'll be using it for a Uni course I'm doing I should be able to make a good comparison with the simplicity of iMovie.
iMovie is easy. Easy and very good. I had started it before and had a quick play but I hadn't really done much and I didn't appreciate just how easy it is to use. It was so simple to put together a short movie of birthday highlights with some titles and cross fades and a music track I almost couldn't believe it. As I have not quiet finished it I still feel there must be a catch - will it be difficult to output it to DVD in a format I can use?
My experience with mac's and mac software is very limited. I do have iTunes on my pc and that too is simple to use. I find that both iTunes and iMovie seem to make the basics very easy to do and don't get bogged down with advanced features. It may not be a good comparison but I feel that if I used iMovie regularly for a few months I'd have a good idea of every feature it offers. I use Microsoft Word daily and have done for years and still don't know all the features it offers.
I don't know if all mac software is this straightforward - I've had a quick look at Final Cut Pro and it seems to be very feature rich and much less straight forward to use. As I'll be using it for a Uni course I'm doing I should be able to make a good comparison with the simplicity of iMovie.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Another one...
Back in the mid nineties I worked in the Sydney office of a reasonably sized company. As the head office was in Melbourne, the Sydney office was only about 30 staff. A new Managing Director was appointed and he set up his office in the Sydney office. Within nine months of his appointment 75% of the staff had found new jobs, including me. That sort of turn over can cripple an office. When I left the senior person on the company's premier product had had two weeks experience and two even newer people under her.
I know these things happen and some industries get more of it than others. That said it is not good for morale. I'm now in the Melbourne office of a company that has its head office in Sydney. Nine months ago a national manager, based in Sydney, left the company and took a senior position with a rival and is now based in Melbourne. Since then we have lost seven staff to the rival company and perhaps another ten or so to various other places. There are about 55 people in this office so the impact is not as large but even still people get edgy.
There is a bit of a buzz about who will be next...
I know these things happen and some industries get more of it than others. That said it is not good for morale. I'm now in the Melbourne office of a company that has its head office in Sydney. Nine months ago a national manager, based in Sydney, left the company and took a senior position with a rival and is now based in Melbourne. Since then we have lost seven staff to the rival company and perhaps another ten or so to various other places. There are about 55 people in this office so the impact is not as large but even still people get edgy.
There is a bit of a buzz about who will be next...
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Exams...
Today 30 odd Paediatric Doctors in Melbourne are sitting an exam. It is a multichoice exam with a two hour paper in the morning and a three hour paper in the afternoon. Most will have been studying for this exam in the majority of their spare time for about 12 months. All these people have had to do well in secondary school in order to get into a medical degree at University. They then have had to do a six year medical degree and then have had to get accepted into the Paediatric training scheme. They then do certain specified medical jobs with often long hours in order to qualify to sit this exam. They then pay (over $1,000) to sit the exam. Others like them will be sitting the exam around Australia.
In a few weeks they will get there results and a third will fail. I emphasise will because, regardless of their scores, the examiners (the Paediatric College) will take the bottom third of scores and fail them.
If they are in the lucky two thirds they will be lucky enough to sit an other exam in about six months. This will be a 'clinical' exam. They will fly interstate to a neutral hospital and have to examine patients in front of a panel of examiners. These patients are hand picked 'difficult' cases. Again they will pay to sit this exam, as well as paying for their airfares, accommodation etc.
If they pass this examination they are then 'advanced trainees'. After completing some further criteria (publishing papers or doing a PhD etc) they will then be able to join the college as Paediatricians, some 10+ years after starting training, and we will be safe in the knowledge they are well qualified for the job.
Who would be a doctor?
In a few weeks they will get there results and a third will fail. I emphasise will because, regardless of their scores, the examiners (the Paediatric College) will take the bottom third of scores and fail them.
If they are in the lucky two thirds they will be lucky enough to sit an other exam in about six months. This will be a 'clinical' exam. They will fly interstate to a neutral hospital and have to examine patients in front of a panel of examiners. These patients are hand picked 'difficult' cases. Again they will pay to sit this exam, as well as paying for their airfares, accommodation etc.
If they pass this examination they are then 'advanced trainees'. After completing some further criteria (publishing papers or doing a PhD etc) they will then be able to join the college as Paediatricians, some 10+ years after starting training, and we will be safe in the knowledge they are well qualified for the job.
Who would be a doctor?
Monday, March 01, 2004
What do you say?
What is the whole point of a blog? Is it a diary? Is it to make witty observations on everyday life? Are you mean to put across your views on your work, hobby, obsession? How personal does it get? Do you even use your name? What if you don't have a whole heap you want to say? Or perhaps not much that you want to share?
Obviously blogs exist that run the whole gamut from highly personal to corporate bland. Witty observations are good, personal views are a must. Blogs are personal publishing I suppose. I understand keeping a diary was popular around the time of Samuel Pepys. Diaries are still not unknown but they are perhaps more associated with teenage girls these days. Are blogs a modern manifestation of a previous diary fad? Blogs however are (or at least can be) open to the public - indeed open to the world.
Each blogger decides on how personal. Does you blog contain things you'd share with some stranger you met on a train? Or stuff you might chat to mates at the pub? Or just stuff you could only feel ok about saying in an anonymous forum? I suppose if you have not a lot you want to say (or share) you just don’t have a blog.
Why do people do this?
Obviously blogs exist that run the whole gamut from highly personal to corporate bland. Witty observations are good, personal views are a must. Blogs are personal publishing I suppose. I understand keeping a diary was popular around the time of Samuel Pepys. Diaries are still not unknown but they are perhaps more associated with teenage girls these days. Are blogs a modern manifestation of a previous diary fad? Blogs however are (or at least can be) open to the public - indeed open to the world.
Each blogger decides on how personal. Does you blog contain things you'd share with some stranger you met on a train? Or stuff you might chat to mates at the pub? Or just stuff you could only feel ok about saying in an anonymous forum? I suppose if you have not a lot you want to say (or share) you just don’t have a blog.
Why do people do this?
Yellow
I took the kids to the museum yesterday. Among other things we saw a display regarding the human digestional tract. The start of the display was a plate of food. You then saw it progress through the system. It had beakers showing how food would look after four hours in the intestines (yellow slime with bits of diced carrots etc in it) and then after six hours (clearer slime - a bit like snot). It came to its logical conclusion with a lump of fake (I assume) poo at the end of the display.
"Where does the food go?" is one of my four year olds favourite questions, so this gave me a good way to talk through it. I had explained it previously, as best I could, over various meals but here we had things they could see and touch. I'm not sure how much attention either of them paid, as part of the display had some notes on cylinders you could spin and a spinning cylinder is great fun.
Later, when we were home, my daughter gave me her latest theory - wees are just snot. I asked why and she explained it was because they are both yellow. There is a certain kind of logic working there. I recently read Bill Bryson’s "A history of everything" and I recalled a seventeenth century German Alchemist, Hennig Brand, accidentally discovered phosphorus while trying to extract gold from urine. It appears he was working on the hypothesis that they were both yellow…
"Where does the food go?" is one of my four year olds favourite questions, so this gave me a good way to talk through it. I had explained it previously, as best I could, over various meals but here we had things they could see and touch. I'm not sure how much attention either of them paid, as part of the display had some notes on cylinders you could spin and a spinning cylinder is great fun.
Later, when we were home, my daughter gave me her latest theory - wees are just snot. I asked why and she explained it was because they are both yellow. There is a certain kind of logic working there. I recently read Bill Bryson’s "A history of everything" and I recalled a seventeenth century German Alchemist, Hennig Brand, accidentally discovered phosphorus while trying to extract gold from urine. It appears he was working on the hypothesis that they were both yellow…
Friday, February 27, 2004
Easy as...
Having played with the idea of a blog for a while I signed up for this Blog this arvo - and I've gotta say - easy as! It took all of five minutes. Tweaking will take a while but it doesn't get easier than this!
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