SOME INTERESTING STUFF FOR TODAY



How Everyday Things are Made

I, Cringely: Stupid Microsoft Tricks: Why the Richest Company on Earth Feels it Needs to Cheat


OK: the following areticle is SCO related...but just read the title!
SCO Stock Goes Up After SCOForum Code Revealed as Baloney

We Need Input

Dangnabbit - we want pictures of all the freaks and geeks. Of course - the freakiness level of a con can be measured by the proportion of Klingons and/or Stormtroopers to "normal" (if you can call it that) people you can see. So - what's the measure?

Greetings from Atlanta!

Well, we made it to Atlanta on Thursday. Our flight was early at LAX, so we were able to get a flight to Atlanta two hours earlier. And Oh My God were the seats cramped. It was like they were ergonomically designed to be the least comfortable possible position. Four HOURS OF PAIN!!!!! I swear, I couldn't even rest my head on the seat in front of me (which was leaned back against my knees). But enough whinging.

I am here at Dragon*Con, a really crowded convention filled with geeks of every description. Some are 'cool' geeks, and some are 'scary' geeks, and some are just plain geek geeks. I'm currently hijacking a computer from a friend by the name of Josh Cochran, otherwise known as Evil Josh - as a big lunk of a Texan, he's very easy to bait, but a really nice guy. And no, he's not looking over my shoulder.

I hit the Steve Jackson Games booth today and spent some money. I also won a pen off a guy by showing some obscure geek knowledge, which is pretty impressive given the general geek quotient of this place. I'd actually seen a group of guys on the first day, all in blue flightsuits with 'Terran Confederation' on the badges. Now, my first thought was Wing Commander, but for some reason I was also thinking Space: Above and Beyond. So when I saw a guy lounging around today, I asked him which it was, and he gave me a pen because I'd picked Wing Commander. So I did something geeky. :)

Anyway, I should probably give the laptop back now. More reports as they come to hand!

Wierd Stories

NEWS.com.au | Wife kills husband in testicle attack (August 29, 2003)
NEWS.com.au | Bride's mum attacks stripper (August 28, 2003)
NEWS.com.au | Chook woman attacks police (August 29, 2003)
NEWS.com.au | Arnie's past orgies revealed (August 28, 2003) (hey - it worked for Bubba Clinton...)

Stupid Emails

From an email I recently recieved

X-Envelope-To: <jamartin@iinet.net.au>

From: "Microsoft Technical Support" <zvkoxj_51356@advisor.ms.net>

To: "Microsoft Customer" <>

SUBJECT: Latest Internet Security Patch

Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 15:12:23 +0200 (CEST)

Microsoft Customer

this is the latest version of security update, the
"August 2003, Cumulative Patch" update which eliminates
all known security vulnerabilities affecting Internet Explorer,
Outlook and Outlook Express as well as five newly
discovered vulnerabilities. Install now to protect your computer
from these vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could allow
an attacker to run executable on your system. This update includes
the functionality of all previously released patches.

System requirements	Win 9x/Me/2000/NT/XP
This update applies to	Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4.01 and later Microsoft Outlook, version 8.00 and later Microsoft Outlook Express, version 4.01 and later
Recommendation	Customers should install the patch at the earliest opportunity.
How to install	Run attached file. Click Yes on displayed dialog box.
How to use	You don't need to do anything after installing this item.

Microsoft Product Support Services and Knowledge Base articles
can be found on the Microsoft Technical Support web site.
For security-related information about Microsoft products, please
visit the Microsoft Security Advisor web site, or Contact us.

Please do not reply to this message. It was sent from an unmonitored
e-mail address and we are unable to respond to any replies.

Thank you for using Microsoft products.

With friendly greetings,

Microsoft Technical Support

---

©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. The names of the actual companies
and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Now - viruses don't transmit throughout the world just because people use Microsoft software. They don't transmit because people do or do not use anti-virus software and firewalls (though they do help). They transmit mainly because People Are Stupid. Rather than stop and ask "Why did Microsoft just send a file to me completely out of the blue. They've never done this before. Is it really from Microsoft and should I really just run it?", they go ahead and run the file anyway. Why - because People Are Stupid.

And just for those who are curious - the virus was

Just when you thought that "Action Figures" couln't be any more of a hack:

Here is what happens when a Caterpillar meets a Hilux

Sometimes, Work is Good...

Got my roster for work this week, took a look at it and realised I'd been rostered on a door in the Concert Hall. "Great..." I think to myself, "probably another freaking boring orchestra or some such bullshit." I'm normally rostered on as some part of the complex staff - ie people with responsibilities who make the place actually run, so naturally I'm a little bummed. Go into work tonight and decide to work out what the actual event I'm sitting through is. Look at the list of events - and find out it's Lou Reed....

Lou freaking Reed

And I'm getting paid to watch him. Sometimes, work is good...

Just a perfect day,
Drink Sangria in the park,
And then later, when it gets dark,
We go home.
Just a perfect day,
Feed animals in the zoo
Then later, a movie, too,
And then home.

Hello New Zealand

3 hours down, 16 to go. Currently spending a coupla dollars on a web kiosk to report in. Got a bit over an hour to kill before boarding the flight to LA. With any luck it'll be as empty as the flight from Brisbane was - Josh and I had 3 seats between the two of us. Then it's 12 hours or so from here to LA, a few hours to kill at LAX, then another 4 hours or so to Atlanta.

And naturally, the best thing about the flight to LA is that we get to watch Bulletproof Monk *again*.

SOME STUFF FOR TODAY

For all those who are interested here is the report from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. This is the final report on the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia

Interesting Concept: Why computer virus writers are useful and we should thank them.

Interesting Article: 'Open source' software trend faces barriers

Bye-bye w.Bloggar

Well, any posts from me or Josh for the next month or so will be via the Blogger website. We'll be off to my parents' place in about an hour, hence to the airport, then away in one of those flying metal tubes Josh mentioned. And never forget, that with the application of enough force, even a brick can fly. . .

Well, Everything Seems To Fit...

...which can't be a good sign. I'm packed, ready to go, even packed a spare bag in with my main suitcase to try and cope with luggage expansion... and it all fits. Hell, I have room to spare.
I refuse to list what I do have, because no doubt it will be painfully obvious what I've forgotten to whoever reads this, and by that time, it'll be far too late to do anything about it. Suffice to say, I even know where my towel is on this one.
By the end of this week, I'll be in another country, having skipped through New Zealand on the way. This is somewhat freakish. After a total of seventeen hours sitting in an aluminium tube (split by moments wandering around on the ground), I'll be in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The weirdest part will be that I'm going to be the one with a funny accent. Oh, and Nick, too, of course.
And all this so I can act blase about it when I get back. Funny old world, innit?

$20 on the Blue Monkey

How Lame is This???

Ever been sitting there playing video games and thought to yourself, "I can't believe I have to go to class/work right now...why can't I just get paid to play video games?" Why leave the video games at home, when you can take 'em with you - and get paid the whole time? Instead of letting all your responsibilities get in the way of going out to the game, bar or club, it BECOMES your responsibility to get out there and go to all your favorite places - video games in hand. All this is possible as a member of the N-GageTM Special Forces.

The N-Gage Special Forces is an elite group of people who are selected to promote the Nokia N-GageTM mobile game deck to their peers while getting paid and having one of the coolest gigs out there. You’ll get paid to play games on the N-Gage device and demonstrate the product to people at your campus, local events, around town and all of the places you love to hang out.

What are you waiting for?!
Sign up now!

More here.

Guys - it's a f*cking phone. You use it to make and recieve calls. The fact that Nokia want to pay people to appear cool and hip while using this stupid bloody thing is just even sadder. People who think you look cool and funky playing piddly games on it aren't the types of people you want to impress...

Unless of course you really think you look cool playing games on your bloody phone. In which case - you should be hanging out with this guy.

Name That Show

"I suppose it's some sort of neutral environment, an isolated space, cut off from the rest of the universe."
"He should have told me that's what he wanted. I could've shown him Brisbane."

Answer (highlight to read): Dr Who, Castrovalva
For bonus points, name the two speakers: Nissa & Tegan

What a Lawsuit

Not sure if this is genuine or a piss-take - but either way it's pretty interesting reading.

Dis an Dat

What our favorite German industrial metal band is up to.

Don't know whether these are the greatest or worst taste things ever to buy...

A home-done wiring job?

Employment

I am employed doing helpdesk for a government departmet for the next three weeks. Its only a three week contract but it's a start(and I've allways heard that the government is a good place to be). I start Monday.

SILLINESS

This raises an interesting point:
SCO Use of Samba Code Under the GPL

SCO Preparing Legal Action Against Customer

"Stolen" SCO Linux Code Snippets Leaked

What's Wrong With Australian Rugby?

Check it out here.

Stupid Super-Heroes

I give you - Dogwelder

Last Call

Yes, I did finish Last Call by Tim Powers today, and I do believe that I saved the best 'til last.
Here, we have a story that spans four decades; combines Tarot (and their debased forms in ordinary playing cards), figures from mythology (not specific figures, just, you know, the mythical bits, not the myths themselves), Arthurian legends, Las Vegas, desperate gamblers, a cast of very disturbed individuals, and furious gunplay. All in a battle to be the King (and Elvis is only mentioned once).
Symbols fly thick and fast - this is a novel about modern magic, and symbols play a large part in it. But I found that rather than be obscure and confusing, it was gripping and fairly straightforward. (Though magic is twisty and turny enough in and of itself that that's not saying much, necessarily.) The magic was primal, and viscerally true, and not always pleasant.
I highly recommend this book. It feels like it's peeled my skull away from my brain, and yet I feel I haven't learned anything from it that I didn't already know. And one thing I realised I'd forgotten until near the end of the book - Las Vegas is bat country. :)
Though there was a bit in the book tonight that seemed to echo with the whole 'read and review the five' idea. In Neil Gaiman's Stardust, a rhyme crops up that I never heard before...

How many miles to Babylon?
Nine score and ten.
Can I get there by candlelight?
Yes, there and back again.

And when it cropped up near the end of Last Call... wooo. :)

Lang Park 01 : Bronco's Shit

When you choose to spend $280 million+ rebuilding a stadium on a vastly inferior site as compared to the alternates, stating the heritage and tradition of the location as one of the prime deciding factors, and you then decide to flog off the naming rights to said venue to a bank thereby nullifying that tradition, what does that make you? Hypocrite? Wanker? Dickhead? All of the above? More on that later....

Last night featured my first visit to the now redeveloped Lang Park (or Sandcorp Stadium as some [quite right] detractors have been naming it). Pretty nice venue, shithouse to get to, even worse game of football. But again, more later.

The night started off at Adrenalin Sports Bar (what a shocker of a place) when we decided to start of by watching the Wallabies get mauled by the All Blacks in the second Bledisloe Cup test match.

(The Zire71 doesn't handle near darkness too well I'm afraid)

For the first time in god knows how long, Australia started the game with the same backline two tests in a row. I was actually pretty impressed with the desire they seemed to be showing early on, looking much more committed and intense that I've seen this team in a while. Then the Gregan effect began to take hold...... Australia's attack looked disorganised and ill-direct for most of the game. I'm pretty sure most of this comes down to Australia seemingly playing two fly-halfs instead of one and a lone centre. Most times it was almost impossible to tell whether Larkham or Flatley was playing in that position. Then we get to the performance of Georgie-boy himself...... I know he's played well in the past, and I know everyone loves to reference "that tackle" (Tellingly an incident that occurred in something like his fourth test match of a what - 80 test career?), but Gregan's been struggling for a while now. Ever since he's gotten the big C next to his name, Georgie-boy seems to enjoy far more telling the Referee what he should be doing rather that playing the game himself. No more obvious than in the conceding of the All Black's second try last night. Rather than pick the ball up at his feet, Georgie decided to turn around and scream at the ref for a penalty. A Kiwi backrower - who couldn't believe his luck then simply bent over and picked the ball up from right under Georgie-boy's nose. One pass and one kick later, poor bloody Elton Flatley was left trying in vain to outpace a flying All Black winger who swooped in for the second Kiwi try.

(The big screen)

Australia wasn't really in the game after that. The only thing which really kept us within shooting distance was Carlos Spencers seeming inability to put the ball between the posts (missing three shots at goal is almost a cardinal sin in modern rugby these days. Australia desperately needs a new half-back to provide some kind of spark to the team. Under the current rubgy calendar however, the only chance of finding one with any kind of match fitness has to rely on Bob Dwyer's old method of plucking unknowns from second grade in the Sydney comp. This years world cup is going to be ugly.

Having stuck around to try and watch the end of the match, we then decided to catch a cab up to Lang Park to make the start of the game. Here's where we stuck another problem with getting to the place. In case you're wondering how the State Government managed to claim to bring the reconstruction of the place in under budget despite all the delays and stuff-ups they had - the answer is simple. They didn't bother building most of the transport infrastructure that was a part of the original plans for the place. Our cab managed to crawl its way up George Street to just past the Roma Street station when traffic decided to grind to a halt. Road works/ closed streets - you name it it was happening. We faced to choice of sitting in the traffic for 20+ minutes or jumping out there and running the rest of the way to get to the start of game. Based on the game we ended up seeing, I almost wish we'd stayed in the cab....

Suprisingly, we managed to make it to Lang Park in time, and even found the rest of our group we were suppose to be meeting with, including the one with the tickets.

("This is for you... This is for you...")

We made our way into the ground, with little idea as to where we were meant to be sitting, but with the feverent desire to move as quickly as we can to better seats anyway. On my first sight, I thought there might even be a decent crowd in attendance.

A second look at the place made me realize that there wasn't...

Ground announcers claimed a crowd of around 15,000, but it looked closer to 12,00 in my mind.

Anyhow, the game itself was pretty forgettable. The Bronco's showed once again that they lack any real leadership from the halves on the field.

As a half-back Shaun Berrigan makes a great hooker, and Casey Macguire is still to impress me in the 5/8 role. It was telling that the Tigers were well-directed by a 17 year old playing his second career game at halfback, and looked alot more accomplished that anything the Bronco's could muster. Devere had a shocker at fullback under the high ball, making me wonder if he's going to be in for the same treatment poor Nick Parfitt suffered for fewer mistakes. Hoping that Lockyer is going to remain injury-free is not the solution for a problem the Bronco's have been suffering for the past couple of seasons.

(Swannie wasn't smiling like that by the end of the night....)

(Simon, Justin and Rob enjoy the best part of the night - the beer)

(A study of concentration - or was that disbelief Ian?)

(JT and Jonathan make a surprise appearance)

Lang Park is overall a pretty nice stadium to watch the game from. I didn't notice much in the way of sand on the pitch that night - although that was mostly due to the rain we'd had all day. The surface still looked bloody horrible and patchy though. If they're able to relay a turf surface at the likes of Old Trafford and have it ready to play within a two-week period, then it's a disgrace that they haven't been able to sort out the Lang Park surface surface in a longer period of time. That's what you get from cutting corners and doing things on the cheap.

(Lang Park - much like the Bronco's 2003 Premiership - empty promise)

Probably the best thing about the move to Lang Park as opposed to QEII is the presence of so many drinking establishments within easy walking distance for post match celebrations/commiserations. We ended up at The Caxton - which seems to have done itself up reasonably for a few beers. Not as horribly overpriced as the Lang Park beers, it made a pretty reasonable end to what had been two horrible football matches to endure.

Following this, I decided to avail myself of public transport to get to a friend's place at Auchenflower. Making my way down to Milton railway station, I figured that it wouldn't be too long until a train arrived to speed me on my way. Failing that, I could at least find a timetable which which tell me when the next train would be there. Not suprisingly there was no sign of a timetable whatsoever. I'm sure there was some kind of sign at the station office , but considering it was on another platform and I had no way of knowing when the next train was due to arrive, I wasn't going to risk it running over to the next platform, only to be stuck there when my train arrived and departed.

So I wait.... and I wait... and I wait.... Keep in mind that I got to the station at about 10:25pm. Only an hour or so after the game had finished, and there was still a decent crowd of people waiting to catch a train in both directions. !0:30pm comes and goes with no sign of a train. 10:45 comes and goes with no sign of a train. Finally it arrives at 10:49pm, with no announcements over the speakers or anything. See - that's what I like about public transport - it's so easy and convenient to catch..... Should have bloody walked to Auchenflower - it would have been quicker.

So - Saturday night, I drank a fair bit of beer, got to watch the two teams I was supporting loose in pretty appalling fashion, and got to look at the new Lang Park - a nice stadium but impossible to get to and from. I'm glad my tax dollars have been spent responsibly.

Oh well - I guess it's time now to get ready to watch my team Liverpool loose their first match of the Premier League season to Chelski....

Moblog Warning

This is an official warning from the Grand Pooh-Bah. Josh is a dick.

Site Maintenance

Finally got around to fixing up the permalinks (I think). Can someone else verify whether they're actually working now or not?

You Know It Makes Sense

From ne quid nimis.

Sir Apropros of Nothing

Well, I finished this tonight. (So I'm a fast reader - sue me.) And I have to say, Peter David pulled off something really quite difficult. He wrote a likable anti-hero.

Perhaps one of the most famous fantasy anti-heroes is Thomas Covenant, he of the leprosy and white gold. And, well, let's face it, he really wasn't a very nice person. I read through the Covenant books, but some people I know never got very far simply because they didn't like Thomas. And thinking back, I can't say I blame them.

Another anti-hero (I guess) is Rincewind, from the Discworld. But I think he falls more into the 'unlikely hero' mold than the anti-hero, so there you go.

Apropros (yes, that really is his name, and yes, it is a word his namer knew) is a weasel. I mean it. He also has, perhaps, the worst luck in the entire world. And yet, even though he has very little concept of honour, even though he betrays people without a second thought (not necessarily without regret, though), he still comes off a lot nicer than a lot of the other people in his world. I genuinely cared what happened to him next, and winced when what little sense of honour he had bubbled to the top, even as he was trying to keep it down.

It's a heroic fantasy satire, and while not as laugh-out-loud funny as Terry Pratchett's Discworld, is still funny in the wry-grin sort of way. It's light, it's fast, it's fun, and Apropros is actually strangely likable. Heroic fantasy satire has been done before, of course, and the 'rescue-the-princess' scenario in this book is actually significantly thornier than the most cliched of the satire. ("Huhuhuhuh, what if the princess, right, isn't a nice person? Huhuhuhuhuhuhuh.") Well, she isn't, exactly, but it gets worse from there. :)

"But it gets worse from there," actually sums up the plot of the book, but not the book itself. I'm also firmly convinced I got nowhere near all of the puns in the book - but the puns were much sparser than the ones in a Spider Robinson story.

The Difference Engine

Well, I finished this tonight, and I have a few things to say.

1) Victoriana is cool. I mean, I wouldn't want to live in Victorian times, given that there's an element of two-facedness and women were more strongly encouraged to be stupid and they lived in poo. But there's something I like about how people can talk about honour, and the way they phrase things, how everyone had personal cards they'd exchange, and stuff like that.

2) Steampunk books never quite wind up being quite as cool as I think they're going to be. I'm not sure why this is, but so far, so good. I'm trying to think what it is that I would say qualifies as 'good' steampunk, and, well, I can't.

But on to the actual review.

The book is set in 1855, in an alternate-history London. History diverged somewhere around 1830, as near as I can gather, and the Industrial Radical party is in power, under Prime Minister Lord Byron. (Yes, consumption, poetry, proto-goth - in our history). The old feudal system was abolished (though Queen Victoria still has the throne) and a system of merit-based Lordships instituted instead, promoting a 'scientific' government system. Charles Babbage actually built his theorised Engines - proto-computers, for those not up on their computer history - and now they are about as common as computers circa 1980 or so, our time. I'd say. Oh, and the Engines use punch-cards.

It all seems to revolve around a McGuffin, a set of punch cards put together by Ada Byron (Lord Byron's daughter, styled as the 'Queen Of Engines'). And, well, trying to summarise the plot... I can't, really.

There are Texans ('Texians') involved in the mix, somehow. There are also the filthy American Commies ('Communards') that try and overthrow the Radicals by inciting riots in London. (That's the backdrop for what I would vote the most kick-arse scene, where three brothers go to avenge the slander that broke their sister's heart.) There's also some political manoeuvering behind the scenes, but, well, it seemed way behind the scenes to me.

The plot, I'll admit, baffled me. Then again, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age also baffled me first time around, so maybe it'll get better with re-reading.

The little nit-picky thing that narked me was the way certain modern terms would be Victorianised by reversing them. "Line-streaming", "Back-feed" - and I know there was a third one that cropped up but I can't remember it now.

I would still recommend it, but not as unreservedly as I would recommend Stardust or John Ringo's series. It failed to blow me away, but then again, the others also didn't exactly make me explode either. Some books improve on re-reading through picking up subtleties you missed first time around. But when the subtlety appears to be what the hell the book was about, I'd say that's a weakness, not a strength.

And while there doesn't appear to be a rogue AI loose on the 'Net, I think the book ends with one waking up. So close to breaking Gibbo's stereotype... so close...

Robo-Cop?

Check this movie out - I've got no idea who's made it - but imagine if this was some kind of industrial demo.....

Two Great Tastes...

When I saw the header for this, I thought, "Ooo... Feng Shui secret war stuff makes it to the headlines.

Then I read it, and, well, it's also one for the tinfoil hats. Huzzah!

Mad Moofie???

From Dark Horizons

Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash?: Creature Corner reports that New Line is already hard at work on developing potential sequel ideas to their current team-up project and there's already a theory - "Reliable sources have revealed that one of the current ideas being tossed around includes a scenario where Freddy and Jason would team-up against a common enemy: Bruce Campbell as Ash from the "Evil Dead" films. As crazy as it might sound, this concept has apparently been met with a great deal of enthusiasm in the upper-echelons of New Line Cinema. While it's impossible to predict what sort of "unknowns" might prevent this concept from seeing the light of day (like, say, the rights holders of the "Evil Dead" series or Campbell himself saying no) it's interesting to know that New Line is at least considering what could turn out to be many a fanboy's dream team-up "plus one" for the not-to-distant future". Thanks to 'Rotten Scoundrel'

I'm sorry - but how insane would that be.........

When The Devil Dances

I finished When the Devil Dances by John Ringo today. And I have to admit, I think I invested a bit too much faith in the cover blurb.

It's the third in the series, so here's the gist of the story so far (trying to avoid spoilers):
Bad Alien Race: Posleen. A race of centauroid lizard things that can eat anything, and like to eat people (regardless of sentience or whatever). Most are really, really dumb, but some are 'God Kings', intelligent Posleen that can direct the 'normals'. They tend to be armed with 1mm railguns (for some sense of scale, these beat Tank), more rarely with 3mm railguns, plasma cannon and high-velocity missiles.
They tend to use the 'swarm' tactic that every Bad Alien Race in a power-armour setting seem to enjoy, but have decent enough anti-air defenses that it is a viable one. (Basically, aircraft in line-of-sight die instantly. Bye!)

The Posleen are attacking the worlds of the Galactic Federation, who have a problem - none of them can fight. Some are genetically hardwired to be cowards, others are unable to willingly take a life, others are able but the trauma renders them catatonic for the rest of their lives. So, they turn to humanity.

They have several carrots - membership in the Galactic Federation, access to funky technology - a big ask - "please do all our fighting for us" - and a big stick. The Posleen are on their way to Earth. Humanity takes the job on.

However, not everything is hunky-dory. The Federation is new to the concept of mass-production, for one. It is also somewhat unfamiliar with the concept of democracy, and has a very rigid heirachical structure. The Federation is also new to the concept of things geared up directly for military conflicts, so humans do a lot of conceptual design work. So supplies are short in coming. In the midst of this is Michael O'Neal, the Main Character, who designs the Armoured Combat Suits. Mmm, power armour. Being the ACS guru, he's way better at using 'em than anyone else.

The first book is the opening to all this, finishing in a campaign to free a Federation world from the Posleen. Things go wrong - of course - and the ACS pull everyone's fat out of the fire - of course. Where would we be without the Mobile Infantry?

The second book deals with the initial Posleen invasion of Earth. We start to see things from the Posleen point of view as they become frustrated with the sneaky human tactics, so unlike anything the Posleen are used to. Well, let's face it, they're used to 'rampage unchecked through our enemies for they cannot fight back'. Some Posleen God Kings do actually start to use their brains, though. Michael O'Neal proves he's still a tactical and strategic guru when it comes to the suits, though.

The third book... well, here's the cover blurb.

After five years of battling the Posleen invaders, human civilisation is down to a handful of highly industrialised valleys where survivors create larger and larger engines of war to oppose the hated invaders.

After five years of battling the Humans the Posleen are tired and angry. Humans don't fight fair. Even the Posleen are ready for a change: Tulostenaloor. Beaten before, he has learned his lessons well.

Now is the time: Two opponents of old squaring off in the battle that will define the course of the galaxy for the next milennia. And when Major Michael O'Neal, commander of the 1st Battalion 555th Mobile Infantry squares off against Tulostenaloor...

            ...It is time to dance with the devil.

Is it really. Except for the fact that the Mobile Infantry are on R&R, and only fight a bit, off-screen, near the start of the book. Yay. What this book is really about is the non-ACS people involved in this. There are people in the subterranean cities (almost all female - someone decided Earth would need a good chance at breeding stock), combat engineers, light infantry scouts, and the rabid Sluggite crew of a giant mobile gun emplacement which they've named Bun-Bun.

That being said, this book is still a whole heap of fun. The Sluggy references get a bit much - Torg, Riff and Zoe are all invoked a few too many times - but there are still some good lines.
"We're on a forty degree slope, sliding forwards in maximum reverse, firing sideways at forty miles per hour. I don't think we're supposed to do any of those!"
"IT'S KNIFE-FIGHTING RANGE! WE'RE BUN-BUN! FIRE THE DAMNED GUN!"
"So what you're telling me is that, as usual, Bun-Bun's been kicking ass and not even bothering to take names?"
(After a panel has blown and sent someone flying across a room to avoid the sparks) "Is it just me, or is this like a bad TV science fiction show?"
"Sorry, I think I was channeling Bruce Campbell there for a second."

Yes, the book is Americanocentric, but not in an insulting, Independence Day kind of way - more in a Footfall-y kind of way, with lashings of extra 'yo!'. Australia gets trashed, though. Australia always gets trashed. *sigh* At least this isn't the WorldWar series, where Melbourne and Sydney get nuked for no good reason - the Posleen are really scary on open ground, and, well, we've got plenty of that over here. And Australia probably still fared better than China did. (China decided on a nuclear scorched-earth policy near the end - it didn't help much and the Yangtze got enough fallout that it'll be pretty icky for the next ten thousand years or so).

So the series is definitely worth a look, even if the third one isn't what the cover blurb promises. But I should know better than that by now, anyway.

Terry Announces Candidacy In California Recall Election

As the league leading Office Linebacker for four years running, "Terrible" Terry Tate possesses the vision, the experience, and the unique ability "to bring the pain up in this humpy-bumpy" that California so desperately needs. Terry promises to end partisan gridlock by knocking some fiscal sense into the corporate lobbyists, career bureaucrats, and partisan politicians who are at the heart of the problem: "I'm the type of player that player haters hate to play - cause I'm 100% heart baby, all day, every day."

Once elected, Mr. Tate will tackle white collar crime: "Ya'll suckah's who don't pay taxes and hang out on your Gucci yachts? With Triple T in charge, you know you gonna get caught." Terry also commits himself to reducing overcrowding at schools, improving air quality, and eliminating "long-[expletive] coffee breaks - five minutes tops, or ya'll gonna get clocked."

And despite the risk inherent in being the top executive of the state, Terry stands alone among leading candidates in his pledge to realize the hopes and dreams of the voters of California without taking a vacation or a sick day. "Playin' hurt? Baby that don't phase me. The only pain I got time for is the pain I put on fools who don't know what time it is."

Most importantly, a vote for Terry Tate is a vote for a better future for California's children, families, and businesses: "I'm gonna govern the [expletive] out of this state. Believe that, California."


Visit terrytate.reebok.com now.

Testing

Just a test to see if blogging from my Zire 71 works or not.

Sometimes, The Japanese Scare Me.

I'm still not sure what this site is trying to prove. Apparently, if you think happy thoughts at water, then freeze it, it will make prettier patterns. I think.

I have to wonder how the hell this is in any way useful, or even explained (it just uses new-agey 'energy' or something, I guess). Still, it's all through the link.

Grace Elizabeth...some Photos!

Here are two photos from the delivery (no iron stomach required for viewing)

Grace and Mum shortly after delivery

The Machine that goes BING!

Do You Want This Job?

Am mobloging from the Sunshine Coast today.

It is bloody miserable weather today. Stop fricking raining!

Book Review

Well, I visited The Evil Bookstore today (Pulp Fiction, as opposed to The Other Evil Store) and picked up a number of books. As you do. I actually remembered to use some vouchers from there, for a change, as well. :)

The books (in no particular order)
Stardust, by Neil Gaiman; (Gaiman always tells a good story, even when I've heard it before)
Sir Apropros Of Nothing, by Peter David; (I remember his work on X-Factor - this should be bloody funny)
When The Devil Dances, by John Ringo; (Mobile Infantry! Need I say more? Third in a series)
The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (Steampunk! Steampunk!) (And hopefully no AI's loose on the 'Net!)
Last Call, by Tim Powers(An RPG I like the look of called Unknown Armies is apparently heavily influenced by this guy's modern stuff - is supposed to be very good.)

So, I figured I'd start reviewing these books as I finished them. By happy coincidence, I finished Stardust at work tonight (it was a short book, after all).

Stardust is a fairy tale, right enough. The final denoument became apparent to me about halfway through the book, and I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention. For some reason, though, Gaiman was able to keep the story interesting, regardless. Apart from a sex scene in the first chapter (oh, and a single rude word in the second), this is the kind of story one could read to children, but it's not written 'down' in any way. It has Gaiman's trademark fantastic images, especially in the scenes in the Faerie Market (someone was selling storms in eggshells, for instance). It's done in a pseudo-Victorian style, mostly, but that just kind of lends to the air of wonder about it (as well as reminding us of when it's set, I guess).

Is it one of Gaiman's more haunting stories? Naaah. Good triumphs, Evil is vanquished, people learn lessons along the way. (Not that that's a bad thing, but it's straightforward, which is unlike, say, Terry Pratchett's way of accomplishing the same thing.) It's still a pleasant read, and sometimes I think Neil Gaiman visits Faerie just for the ideas. :)

So, I think next up I'll go for some big boomy powersuit fun in When The Devil Dances.

And I have to tell you - the links from the booklist took some very rapid Googling. :)

Congrats, Grant and Gemma!

And remember, insanity is hereditary. You get it from your children. . .

Inkeeping With The Momentous Occasion



For those who already have children past this age, this is hilarious.

For those who have children this age, this is not funny at all.

For those who have children nearing this age, this is a warning.

For those who have not yet had children, this is birth control.

The following came from an anonymous Mother in Austin,Texas:

Things I've learned from my Children (honest & no kidding):

1. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house
4 inches deep.

2. If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with
roller blades, they can ignite.

3. A 3-year old's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded
restaurant.

4. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong
enough to rotate a 42 pound boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman
cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread
paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.

5. You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When
using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times
before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6. The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit
by a ceiling fan.

7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh," it's already
too late.

8. Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9. A six-year old can start a fire with a flint rock even though a
36-year old man says they can only do it in the movies.

10. Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year
old.

11. Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12. Super glue is forever.

13. No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still
can't walk on water.

14. Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15. VCR's do not eject PB&J sandwiches even though TV commercials show
they do.

16. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17. Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18. You probably do not want to know what that odor is.

19. Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not
like ovens.

20. The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.

21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms
dizzy.

22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24. The mind of a 6-year old is wonderful. First grade...true story:

One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of the Three
Little Pigs to her class. She came to the part of the story where the
first pig was trying to accumulate the building materials for his home.
She read, "...And so the pig went up to the man with the wheelbarrow
full of straw and said, 'Pardon me sir, but may I have some of that
straw to build my house?'" The teacher paused then asked the class, "And
what do you think that man said?" One little boy raised his hand and
said, "I think he said...'Holy sh_t! A talking pig!'" The teacher was
unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

25. 60% of men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake
fluid.

Congratz Grant!!!!

Woah Dude!!!

Cogratulations - sounds like a celebration is in order.

Beers all round me-thinks :)

Congratulations Grant!!!

You know, that's really kind of freaky.

On another note, the edit button's completely not working, so the monstrosity of a post will have to stay that way.

Grace Elizabeth Crawley
At 7:35pm, 06/08/2003, Grace Elizabeth Crawley was delivered via C-section at the Wesley Hospital. Weighing in 3.055Kg (or 6pound 11 in the old scale) and 50cm in height.
Mother and Child are fine, all went smoothly. Father is still a bit of a wreck ;~]

I guess this means that we need to have some kind of Alcohol-ingesting, cigar-smoking do then, eh?

What Marvel Superhero Am I?

No, seriously. Who the hell am I? (Yeah, yeah, used to hang around with Luke Cage, yada yada...)

On another note...

There is a phone outside the IGA in Forest Lake.

This phone should check the age of anyone dialling 000 from it.

If the age is under 15, the caller should have their fingers amputated.

Preferably, at the neck. It won't make them any more stupid, but hopefully will shut 'em up.

On yet another note...

Grant! What's the word?

I'm Reed Richards, apparently

What Marvel Superhero Am I?

!!! IMPORTANT CHILD-RELATED INFORMATION !!!

Gemma will be going in for a C-Section tonight. The procedure is currently scheduled for 7pm.

I will post information as soon as possible.

And Rappo Is.....

Which Marvel Superhero are you?
Spent a bit of time at www.LiquidGeneration.com and did the "Which Marvel Superhero are you?":

Just go to the main page and follow the Quizzes link at the bottom

Finally One that works!!!

I know folks often ignore my winging about things that I want too see happen and don't, so here is a quick recap for this post. For a while I've been looking for a video converter that converts from RM (Real media) to, well, preaty much any other format, preferably avi. In the past there have been two programs that answer this call, namely TINRA (This Is Not Real Anymore) which did a crap job (creating a seperate audio and video stream) and it's output was NEVER in sync. The other was new and hot to trot, it produced a single avi file so no need to mux, It's called RMConverter, and it also sucks as it's output is never in sync (maybe if you paid for the retail it would be, but I dout it). Well there is finally something good out there : EO-Video. From my small test (first 90 seconds of a RM file) it's out put is in sync and produced as avi (or if you want mpg), the others failed this test. As allways its shareware software, but It's also a media player and I think the conversion bit is all thats shareware, the rest is free. So finally those who wish it can convert RM to other formats. (and yes I know RM is shitty quallity in the first place, but so is VCD :)

Take That, Atheists!

Next time you're trying to prove God exists, don't bother engaging your brain, head over to this site and pick one you like! FWACKOOM!

Fresh Goes Better...

Now, Mentos ads come to the Magic:The Gathering Generation. Check It Out.

Why blocking by IP location is dumb as well as annoying

...because there are sites like Valley Girl which can render pages like Dead Like Me accessible because the server running the CGI script is in the States. Or, if you prefer your English unmangled, just head over to The Anonymiser for all of your TV goodness

Further Venting

Don't know why - seem to be in a real good mood today.... I was going to talk about a new show I've been watching, thanks to the glory of the interweb, called Dead Like Me - a (so far) relatively funny and slightly sick story about a young girl who is killed by the toilet seat from the de-orbiting Mir Space Station - and ends up working as a grim reaper - collecting the souls of the recently departed. I would give you the link to the shows home page - http://sho.com/deadlikeme/ - which should have information about the cast, pictures, etc - but when I tried to visit the page - I was greeted with this

I mean - wtf???. Why do something like this? Is Showtime afraid that someone from Bolivia or something is going to find out some top secret information about their tv show that they only want U.S. residents to know about? Talk about lame...

Question to Ponder

If Australia is such an evil fascist racist country that hates refugees (just ask the ABC...), then why the f*ck is it costing taxpayers $40 Million in legal bills to hear appeals when applications are denied? Surely these people would just be thrown straight out of the country if Australians are as bad as we're suppose to be?. Surely the Socialist Worker (an oxymoron if ever I've heard one) wouldn't lie to me.....
(this post is brought to you by a frustrated person who had to suffer through listening to The World Today and was accosted by a turd selling the above-mentioned rag in the Queen Street Mall today[shudder])

Huzzah - it works! Ultra-geeky

Test Post just testing to see if I can blog from my phone

Things to See in the U.S. at a Con...

Cool link

Pingpong.

Weird Al

So, who wants tickets? Tuesday 14th October, 8 pm. A Reserve $69.90. Unless employees can get a discount ;)

AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF EXCEPTIONAL IMPORTANCE
People, the Ginger Beer is a brewin'

Josh: Have you been saving bottles at all? Email me and let me know...I might need them for Coopers Classic Old Dark Ale. (similar to Tooheys Old).

IOTD

From A Yobbo's View. Now I want this on a t-shirt.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Saturday morning and weekday late afternoon cartoons were a staple of my ever-so-distant youth, which might explain why I got 75% on this quiz.

I got 14 of 'em straight away, and another one after I looked it up on Google to get the official name. Another one I should have got, but didn't (the guy who sent me the quiz told me the answer). Three more, I only got the answers after opening the quiz in OpenOffice which ignores the Excel password (either that, or some versions of the quiz don't have the password set). Two I'd never even heard of, the last I'd actually watched a couple of times, but the picture wasn't of anything that would've have triggered my vague memory of the show.

The only one remaining, I found out the answer by opening the Excel file in Notepad and panning through it looking for strings. If you try doing the quiz in OpenOffice, expect it to be impossible to get the answers for the first three cartoons - as near as I can tell, OO gets the import of those fields wrong. Again, this last one was something I'd never even heard of, let alone watched.

Geek Rankings

I was trying to remember what I got on that geek test a few weeks back. A brief trawl through the archives produced the following rankings:
Adam 57.98817% - Extreme Geek
Grant 55.02959% - Extreme Geek
Nick 33.72778% - Total Geek
So what'd the rest of you get, huh?

Groups and 'social software'

AKA,"Why you can get people yelling at you for using an [Admin] tag on Usenet":
Groups are their own worst enemy

(Happy now, Josh?)

This is kinda cool

Want to sign up for some site like Ofoto or whatever, but don't feel like giving them your real email address? Then just give them a Mailinator address!
The email will be sent to Mailinator, will live there for a few hours, and will then be deleted. Great for a one shot registration for a site you don't trust, but need to access anyway.