Case-mod Freakin' INSANITY.

You have just got to appreciate the effort that went into this case.
Blackmesa HL² by piloux




Way more here

Cooking

The problem with cooking with garlic is that your hands then smell of it for the next week.

New blog

OK, I wanted a website of my own to point family member towards, and to post ramblings that I doubt most of you would find interesting. I've been intending to do it for a while, and yesterday I finally sat down for the five minutes required to actually make it happen.

So, check out Boredom & Laziness. There's also some pretty pictures of a mountain that went boom

Why America is such a fucked up country

Use BugMeNot to login, then choose the 30 day trial to read the whole thing.

And, in super-secret magic hidden text, the proportion of Americans that are young Earth creationists: 45%

Crap

WHEDONesque : Comments on 5406 - five months :(

THE ZOOMQUILT

THE ZOOMQUILT | a collaborative art project - this is just very cool.

From the horse's mouth

Don't fall asleep while drunk

[Listening to: Slipknot - Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) - Vermilion (5:16)]

Another telstra stuff-up.

Go telstra. they have managed to link the wrong site in ads that ran in papers across the country today.
Put simply, THIS, should have been THIS.

Compy 386??

Compy 386?? - one word - insane.

Australians top list of the world's most overworked people

The image of the laid-back, sun-bronzed Aussie relaxing on the beach took a major hit yesterday with new evidence showing Australians are working the longest hours in the developed world.
More Here

John Laws "sorry" for queer speech

SYDNEY radio broadcaster John Laws has published a grovelling apology to the gay community for comments he made a fortnight ago about visiting US TV star Carson Kressley.
Full Article Here
I could pass my own comments on John Laws, but that might mean that I may have to issue an apology.

[Listening to: Joe Satriani - Is There Love In Space? - 02 - Up In Flames (4:33)]

Woo Frreakin' Hoo x2

It's quiet out there...

Way Funky

GPS Gives Howitzers A New Lease On Life
Details on the Projectile
In a first-of-a- kind test earlier this month, the Raytheon Missile Systems and Bofors Excalibur team successfully fired a global positioning satellite-guided 155mm artillery shell, which guided to a target aim point 20 kilometers down range. The shell hit less than 11 feet from the aim point, well within the performance specification of Excalibur.

heh

[Listening to: Rammstein - Sehnsucht [Australian] - Engel (4:25)]

Compulsive disorder rules in student-funded playgrounds

Compulsive disorder rules in student-funded playgrounds - Opinion - www.smh.com.au

Arafat the monster

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Arafat the monster

Interesting

Pioneer ultraviolet laser promises 500GB disks

Pioneer has developed a technique which will allow optical drives to store 500GB of data....the technique will use ultraviolet lasers, which emit shorter wavelength rays than blue lasers....uses the beam to write data holes in a master disk, each separated by 70 nanometres....That gives a data rate 20 times more than the blue laser Blue-ray disk. While there are technical problems creating data cavities so small, Pioneer has, apparently, solved problems associated with scattering of the laser by developing a carbon mask using photosensitive resin.

Looks like shit

Okay, so about the same time as they released the teaser for Episode III, they also released the first teaser poster for the film.

And frankly, for a Star Wars poster, it looks a bit shit. It looks like the kind of half-ass watercolors some fanboy would paint in grade 8 art class. Yes - I get what the poster's suggesting is in store for the movie - but I still think it looks like amateur hour.

Besides, this whole thing was done alot better for the first movie.

[Listening to: The Crystal Method - Community Service - Renegades of Funk [The Crystal Method Remix] (3:55)]

George Dubya's Acceptance Speech

[Listening to: The Distillers - Coral Fang - Drain the Blood (3:08)]

It is coming...

[Listening to: Monster Magnet - Negasonic Teenage Warhead (4:28)]

Interesting Stuff for Today

US ready to put weapons in space
Defence expert says America is likely to ignore treaty ban
America has begun preparing its next military objective - space. Documents reveal that the US Air Force has for the first time adopted a doctrine to establish 'space superiority'.

Novell Settles One Antitrust Claim with Microsoft for $536 Million, Plans to File Suit on Second Claim
* Novell and Microsoft settle potential lawsuit related to Novell's NetWare operating system for $536 million
* Novell announces it will file antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft related to WordPerfect claims

'Brain' in a dish flies flight simulator
A Florida scientist has developed a "brain" in a glass dish that is capable of flying a virtual fighter plane and could enhance medical understanding of neural disorders such as epilepsy.

Hrrrmmm..... Interesting

Star Wars- Episode III teaser

And before anyone asks - it's a torrent file.

Repost of Relevance

I felt like digging this up from the archives. It still sums up what I feel about todays colossal waste of time and money. The sad thing is - the amount of money wasted will have only increased.

Warning - somewhat strong language follows

"Race that stops the nation." Give me a fucking break. You know what really pisses me off? The Melbourne fucking Cup. Commercial and vested interests have spent millions of dollars promoting a god-damned horse race as being some kind of special cultural event where the chardonnay set get to swan around pretending they look gorgeous dahlings and millions of people around Australia all of a sudden think they can pick the form of the horse that's going to win this esteemed (for the stupid - I'm being sarcastic here) event.

And all for what???? So a bunch of dumb animals can be whipped around an oval by a bunch of nutbags while people who can't afford it throw away their money, giving it to the people who brought you The Fine Cotton Affair and the likes. Why do we do this??? Why do we celebrate this stupid event??? Why is it acceptable for people to stop work for the day and get pissed at "Melbourne Cup lunches". Why do we stop teaching at schools and universities and encourage children to start gambling by running sweeps and the like??? Why do normal everyday people all of a sudden loose their shit and waste money betting on this ridiculous event???

Why celebrate the Melbourne Cup? Why rank it up there as such a special event in Australian society? Did anyone die to protect it? No. Fight any wars to protect it? No. Did it make any great medical advances to cure disease or poverty or human suffering? No. Does it leave anything of any great lasting artistic merit? No. Does it do anything of any merit do deserve such respect? Fuck No.

What does it do? It increases the sale and consumption of alcohol. Always a good thing. It increases gambling. Did you know that over 20% of the poker machines in the world are in Australia. That's a per capita rate 5 times higher that the United States. It's great we hold gambling in such high regard. It increases the sale of stupid fucking hats to the wanker Sydney/Melbourne glitteratti jet-set scum. Wonderful.....

Do you want to know how much money Australian's are going to waste betting on this years Melbourne Cup? Around 150 million dollars. That's right - 150 millions Dollars!!!. Do you know what the second largest publicly listed company will be shortly in Queensland. The merged UniTAB-TAB. So much for the smart state.

If people want to throw this money away - that's their choice. But why fucking celebrate it as a major Australian cultural event?? It's just sick. You know what a better use of all these wasted millions would be? Give it to cancer research. Give it to homeless shelters. Give it to youth suicide prevention schemes. Use it to encourage doctors into rural and regional areas. Use it for child immunisation. Use it to better fund schools. Use it to increase the number of Medicare Provider Numbers (yet another way the AMA helps to create the current shortage of doctors - nothing like a closed shop). Use it to do something constructive to the Australian society. Don't waste it on a fucking horse race. A horse race no-one died for. A horse race that celebrates nothing but Australia's unhealthy obsession with gambling.

Ladies and Gentleman - this is a Big Fat Fuck You to the Melbourne Cup. The disease that convulses a nation.

[Listening to: Grinspoon - New Detention - Gone Tomorrow (3:27)]

Vintage nuclear bomber for auction

A BRITISH plane enthusiast has put his vintage nuclear bomber up for sale on the internet auction site eBay.

"Vulcan bomber XL391 (Complete with engines.) Your chance to own a piece of aviation history," reads the advertisement posted by flying instructor Brian Bateson.

As the plane weighs 40 tonnes and has a wingspan of 30 metres, it also points out: "As is, where is. Buyer collects!"

More Here

[Listening to: Rammstein - Reise, Reise - 07 - Moskau (4:16)]

Reise, Reise

Hell Yeah.

[Listening to: Rammstein - Reise, Reise - 06 - Amerika (3:46)]

CPLD

The Committee for the Prevention of Liver Disorders demand that this story be explained in full from Mr Coghlan so proper investigations into his well-being may be undertaken. Get cracking those that dwell with him.

Trying out a freshly-downloaded w.bloggar to see if the settings I've got work.

My email's working again, if anyone was wondering, and I also have a room I sleep in again, instead of being stuck out in the middle of downstairs. Things are fairly good right now. (Especially since Nick decided to get ten kinds of trashed last night, and I only found out this morning.) But we'll let him tell that story, I guess.

This is an angry man

Marty Beckerman

Saturday Night

Any interest in doing something/anything?

[Listening to: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - A Jacknife To A Swan - 7 Ways to Sunday (3:58)]

Well, for the time being...

This is actually a blog post from my own computer. I don't know how long it'll stay operational like this, but here we are.

Next, I've got to get email up and running, as well as trying to get instant messaging working again.

But things appear to be working. Finally.

Blinding Flashes Leave Astronaut's Eyes Damaged

Gazing out of their space capsules, Apollo astronauts witnessed sights that humans had never before seen. They saw the breathtaking view of the Earth's bright blue disc against the inky black of space. They saw the far side of the Moon. They also saw strange flashes of light inside their eyeballs!
Would you like to know more?

A new Palm for those who cannot quite afford the cost

A new Palm has beendeveloped for those who cannot afford the cost of a Zire or Tungsten.

Busted...

Lip Syncing

The Fiction
"I'm totally against it and offended by it. I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me."

The Reality

Is quite funny.

I like it when pop-tarts get caught out.

Strong Stuff

[Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Still - The Becoming (4:30)]

Highest Score

106.

I am happy.

[Listening to: Audioslave - Audioslave - What You Are (4:09)]

Unfortunate Photo

From yahoo.

[Listening to: Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X - Roll On (4:27)]

More News At Hand

...and it's all bad.

The hard drive is screwed up, and it's refusing to format for a Windows reinstall.

Joy.

More updates doubtless to come.

Good News And Bad News

The good news: my computer has a new motherboard and the keyboard now works.

The bad news: my computer is now not loading Windows (something about 'insufficient storage space').

But you knew there'd be bad news, didn't you? And being able to monkey with BIOS is a whole heap better than not being able to do anything at all.

More news as it comes to hand.

From the man that brought you "Flying High"

zucker.mov (video/quicktime Object) - the kind of political advertisment I wish we saw here.

Gmail

I can't remember who I've sent them to. Anyone else want a Gmail account?

The Fifth Elephant

It looks like the Arts Theatre is putting on another PTerry play - The Fifth Elephant - running from 6-23 October @ 8pm. Who's interested?

New Propulsion Concept Could Make 90-Day Mars Round Trip Possible

A new means of propelling spacecraft being developed at the University of Washington could dramatically cut the time needed for astronauts to travel to and from Mars, and could make humans a permanent fixture in space.

In fact, with magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or mag-beam, quick trips to distant parts of the solar system could become routine, said Robert Winglee, a UW Earth and space sciences professor who is leading the project

More Here

Made-up words

Some times marketing people really need a good slap in the head. They seem to love to make up words to describe things when there are perfectly good existing ones out there. A store I drove past recently had a sign out the front advertising the release of their new promotional brochure. Did they call it a catalogue? No. Did they call it a flyer? No. Did they call it a magazine? No. What did they call it? A freaking magalogue.

What the f*ck is a a magalogue? Are they trying to insinuate that somehow the products they are selling are so superior and so special that you need a completely new word to describe just how brilliant the book they advertise them in is? Because, let me tell you, if their promotional material is so mind-blowing that you need to create a new word just to describe it, just you wait until you see their stuff in real life. Phwoar - it'll knock your socks off.....

Wankers.

Office Space SE

From Digital Bits

Oh... you guys are gonna LOVE this!

Sources at 20th Century Fox have just confirmed with me that the long-awaited Office Space: Special Edition is finally a go! The studio and director Mike Judge are currently hard at work on the disc, which is tentatively planned for release in early 2005. There's no other details available at the moment (so don't ask - it's too early in the process), but the title IS finally coming and you can bet we'll keep you up to date on this as things progress.

How's that for a way to stave off a bad case of the Mondays?

tongodeon: I Goatsed Ron Jeremy

tongodeon: I Goatsed Ron Jeremy - one of the most infamous pictures on the 'net.

Non-electoral thought for the day

Forwarded via email.

> There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra than on
> Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2030, there will be a large
> elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely
> no recollection of what to do with them.

The road kill on history's highway - Opinion - www.smh.com.au

On Saturday night the giant, lumbering road train known as the will of the people, aka the democratic process, smashed through the pretensions, delusions and manipulations of the unelected and unaccountable who presume to tell Australians what to think and who to be.

Read more here.

Winston does it again

The Devil Is In The Details

Just when you think that the Forces of Hell are overrunning the Earth - along comes this website, which is devoted to cataloguing the various entry points Satan and his minions use to enter the world. So far, though, it's only in the UK. But that's all right, we live in God's Own Country.

Yes, that really is Wendell Sailor.

Yes, I know it's Wendell Sailor. It really is. No, it's not a good idea for you to approach him and tell him what you think of how he plays Rugby.

No, really, it's not.

You love your Union? Good. Good for you. Think you can do a better job of playing it than Wendell? Fair enough. Your opinion. I'm not qualified to judge. But it is a Bad Idea for you to go and tell him to his face. Really, it is.

Yes, we've all wanted to deck Wendell at some point. I know I have. But tonight, here, now, is not the time. Maybe you could start playing Union, get to represent, like him, at the National level. I'm not a judge of these things, but sure, why not?

If you do that, then you'll get to clobber him in the name of the sport. And that'll be okay. You just don't need to do it now. You really don't.

Why not? Because it'll wreck what's been an otherwise cool night. Because I'm not going to bail you out. I don't care if you win. I really don't. Win or lose, it will be a Bad Thing. So don't. Okay? Maybe you would beat the shit out of him. So?

Good. All right. Just don't. Okay? Don't. Good.

The Thing About Crikey....

...is where the authors are coming from. Both Stephen Mayne and Christian Kerr (the two people responsible for most of the Crikey political content) are both former Liberal party staffers, now disaffected former party members, some would say with axes to grind. Some would say there is nothing more dangerous than a former party member who feels they've missed out on what was due to them (case in point Russel Gault). Then again, disclosure of political affiliations has never been a strong point for the media. While those politically active would know, ow many average punters would be aware that Kerry O'Brien - the ABC's current affairs figure head, as well as the Courier Mail's Dennis Atkins were formerly staffers for Labor figures (Gough Whitlam and Wayne Goss respectively I believe). Once you've accepted party-tainted coin, how can you then ask anyone to accept that the commentary and analysis you deliver is free of bias anymore? Once you cross that line you should never be allowed to go back.

Now as for the election. My blogging on this subject has been non-existant, mostly because I've been too busy working to be bothered writing anything. However, I will say this. I don't believe a man who deems to acceptable to not only go on holidays with your second wife while still married to your first wife and still living in her home, not to mention a man who deems it acceptable to solve a personal dispute by resorting to violence and breaking another man's arm has the suitable character to hold the highest office in this land (I don't mean the Australian cricket captaincy...).

This may be some-what incoherent - but I'm off to a polling booth and don't have time to proof-read properly. And unlike Nick, I'll try to refrain from posting this twice... ;)

Crikey Election Editorial

Yes James, I know you will disagree violently with each and every word they say. I admire your party loyalty, even if I don't think the people currently in charge deserve it.

The last Labour government arranged some major economic reform, then lost the plot when they became more interested in retaining power than governing well. I, like Crikey, think the same thing has happened to the current Liberal government. Since the AEC, in its infinite wisdom, has seen fit to deny me the chance to vote myself, the only thing I can do is try to influence even a couple of people before they head to the polls later today.

I've been disenfranchised!

So, I moved out of my apartment today (4 sleeps 'til I fly home!). Which means I'm not going to receive any mail that arrives from now on.

And, since I've seen no sign of my postal ballot, that means I don't get to vote on this weekend's events. Ah well, I doubt it'd make any difference, anyway. I can't see Wayne Swan losing Lilley on Saturday.

(Interesting aside, although probably only for me and James, and he would have read it already - over 50% of Crikey's readership that actually take web surveys would seem to be ALP supporters).

Gun Shop Debuts Credit-Card-Sized Shotgun

WFTV.com - News - Gun Shop Debuts Credit-Card-Sized Shotgun

Favourite Election Poster

An interesting tail. . .

Remember how I was complaining about "People who bought this also bought. . ." when I got the Penn & Teller DVD's from Amazon? This Wired article looks at the effect that feature (and similar ones at other sites) is having on the economics of entertainment retail.

Oh, and I've done the math for the price of everything I have to declare to customs on the way home next week - about US$600. Only a bit more than double the duty free limit :P

This looks promising

I always thought it was the platinum catalyst that made fuel cells so horrendously expensive, but it looks like there may be more to it than that. Hopefully this development will make fuel cells more cost effective. It's also interesting in light of announcements like this one.

I was wondering why my Father's PC wouldn't switch on...

...then I opened up the case.




Can we call say scorchy.

Photoshop contests rock

More Photoshop hilarity are Worth1000.com

Good Fantasy Novel

I was just reading the web site of one of my favourite authors, Ian Irvine, and have found that there are four more books planned for one of my favourite fantasy series The View From the Mirror (which is the first part of the Three Worlds Cycle).

If you haven't Read The View From the Mirror I suggest that you do. It is a fantasy series that stands out with a rich universe and a lot of events thoughout the series. In some novels the characters only go to a few places and do a few important things, in others (eg Lord Of The Rings) they go to quite a few places and do proportionally more. I found that at the end of each book in the series that so much had gone on I needed to read the synopsis at the beginning of the next novel to refresh my memory.

The characters have interesting histories. The cultures are rich with tradition. Magic, while powerful, has consequences.

The names of people and places are somewhat Lord of the rings-like. They are somtimes unusual, typically exotic but you can tell one from another.

How to write a best selling fantasy novel

Every since "The Lord of the Rings", epic fantasy novels have been high on the bestseller list. Every thought of writing one? WELL HERE'S HOW.

Another Song Murdered?

William Shatner does it again.

Chewbacca Defense

"If it doesn't make sense, the jury must acquit."

One down for private manned spacecraft to win $10 million X Prize

Onlookers held their breath as the manned SpaceShipOne performed unexpected but spectacular acrobatics on its way into space, the first step toward winning the Ansari X Prize on Wednesday. Full Story Here

Do you think that some SJGames stuff is rediculous?

The new toy

UPS delivered my iAudio M3L today. It's pretty.

It now contains my entire digital music collection, a backup of my email archive, every digital photo I've ever taken, and a season's worth of Cowboy Bebop AVI's.

It's barely half-full.

The only downside I've found so far is that the included carrying case only has a belt loop (instead of a clip), and seems to be designed for the slightly thinner M3 (the M3L is about half a centimetre thicker and US$80 or so more expensive, but has 35 hours nominal battery life instead of 14).

I also discovered that my car kit doesn't generate the right voltage for the M3L (it needs 5 V, the car kit only does multiples of 1.5V). However, it then occurred to me that with this thing's battery life, I really don't care ;)

The Science Of Flotsam

At work, today, one of the stations received a call from a bloke who reckoned he'd found a human femur in a dam. (The femur, for those without their finger on the anatomical pulse, is the thighbone.) This, naturally, was cause for some concern. The caller went on to add that he worked for the CSIRO, and he was able to tell that it wasn't a bone from an animal.

So, too, were the police that attended.

He was right - it wasn't a bone from an animal. It was, in fact, a piece of wood.

This caused a workmate of mine to speculate that if this particular gentleman actually works for the CSIRO, it's likely he works as a janitor.

New Special Edition Changes

Remember Lance's Post?

Well, don't worry about getting one like that from me }:>

Kristy and I have had had fun over the last few months, but, as of this evening, we're officially not dating anymore. I'm coming home single. C'est la vie, I guess.

This Is So True...

"People who bought this also bought. . ." is evil

So, among other things, I was buying this at Amazon.
The previously mentioned evil feature then lead to me discover this. And this. And this. So I ordered them too.

This was helped by the fact they were all really cheap compared to the main toy I was ordering.

Educational Animation

Don' t Show This to Children

Australia's First SuperCar

Joss Developments

Hydrogen Bomb lost in 1958 found?

Group says it may have found missing H-bomb off Georgia's coast

Password Insanity

Error Message: Your Password Must Be at Least 18770 Characters and Cannot Repeat Any of Your Previous 30689 Passwords

Why George W. would get my vote

He knows how to play Rugby.

And yes - this is real.

Zzzaaappp

Would Pravda.ru lie?

Time Can be Turned Back
Would that be a lie? Well here's something from the websites description: The newspaper was a publication of the Communist Party, and, as such, it became a state-owned newspaper.

26

That's the number of shifts I've worked on We Will Rock You. And tonight was the first time I've actually gotten to see the show. I'm still making up my mind as to whether the wait was worth it.

From the Inbox (Poor taste, but still funny.)

Stumble Upon is cool

I stumbled here today. P*ss funny. Don't forget to scroll all the way down to the bottom.

Why George - Why???

Star Wars Trilogy - 2004 DVD Changes - Think he'll ever finish tweaking these films?

Spartan

Just finished watching the new David Mamet film Spartan, and have to say I quite enjoyed it. It stars Val Kilmer as some kind of special forces operative (it never actually mentions what type although he does start the film at a Ranger's training school) who is drafted in to work on finding an abducted daughter (again it's never mentioned, but it's strongly insinuated that this is the U.S. President's daughter).

Kilmer performs his part with a good amount of intensity - he looks like a scary guy and goes about his business quite effectively. Choice moments include his interrogation of one man during the course of his investigations.

"Ahhh, I think you broke my arm."

crack

"Now it's broken."

There's quite a high body count in the movie - with characters who you think will survive being bumped off without a moment's notice.

Despite my enjoyment of the film, I felt it ran off the rails a bit in the third act where it devolved into a stereotypical 'look at the evil politician who'll do anything to get elected'. It's the kind of impression of politicians that some sections of society love to promote, but which don't really exist. Put it this way, if the President's daughter was kidnapped by a Middle-Eastern sex slave ring What do you think his response would be? Cover it up and fake her death as an attempt to play the sympathy card? Or invade & bomb the crap out of those filthy towel-heads to extract righteous vengeance? I'd be betting on the later...

Grange

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Unusual choice for F22 test pilot

This image is from the Offical F22-Raptor web site.
Have a look at the Pilot.

UPDATE: the image has been changed. The pilot was Strong Bad

Why Socialists are idiots

It could be unfortunate...

...when you're at work (ACO - rather snobby crowd - classical music and all that) and you're happily humming away a tune under your breath. And then you realise that tune is Starf*ckers by NIN...

[Listening to: Hate - Grinspoon - New Detention (3:39)]

Not quite sure what to say about this

I recently got my rego notice and the usual stuff about my insurance, reading though it I find the list of conditions under which I'm not covered. Notably this.


(Click for larger image.)

Obviously no-one informed them that my little old car is not some sort of nuclear super tank.

Booze Is Good

To those who missed it, Saturday night was a fun night out.

Not that Dan'll remember much of it...

Doctors grow new jaw in man's back

A German who had his lower jaw cut out because of cancer has enjoyed his first meal in nine years -- a bratwurst sandwich -- after surgeons grew a new jaw bone in his back muscle and transplanted it to his mouth in what experts call an "ambitious'' experiment.
Full Story Here

Those who've lost it

Back in the day when I first started changing over from tape's to CD's, one of my first purchases was the album Post by Björk.

I bought if primarily because of two track - Army of Me and It's Oh So Quiet - both coincidentally had smashing film clips. After listening to it, I discovered other great tracks on the album such as Hyper-ballad and Possibly Maybe. It was pretty much a great album, one of my favorites.

Fast forward a few years and I've had a chance to listed to Björk's new album Medulla.

And the first question is - "Where there f@ck has the Björk I enjoyed gone?" Gone are the catchy tunes and cool melodies. In their place is instead pretentious warbling and minimalist synthesizers - sounding more like a bloody Radiohead album. There's no greater example of this crap that track 10 - Desired Constellation. Go listen to it in a record store and you'll marvel at just how shit it is. Pretentious music - thy name is crap.

Wise Words

From Yobbo