GEEK - Dream machine - Mobile computing

Don't worry Margaret. I haven't found some new toy I want. In fact, this dream machine doesn't exist (To my knowledge).

Back in the day when every victim and his dog had an iPod I had a 2.5" IDE (Laptop drive) hard drive enclosure based MP3 player. I liked it because I didn't have to use iTunes, I could just drag and drop files through Windows Explorer (Or whatever shell in whatever OS I'm using at the time). This thing died when the 2.5 mm Philips headphone jack came away from the PCB inside the device. I was bummed...:-( It still works as a portable drive, so I must find someone who needs a portable drive, and they can have it.

So I looked high and low for a new portable drive/MP3 player. A new enclosure like the one I had was going to be $200 (For the enclosure alone), and this device had its own limitations, such as it ran off the internal battery, even when doing read/write operations while connected via USB. A large read/write would kill the battery (In the middle of the task...Grrr) and I'd have to wait for it to charge again, so this thing wasn't at the top of my list to purchase again. Additionally, it was a few years old and didn't play back DivX files that hadn't been specifically trans-coded for it, or MP4 (H.264), etc, not that I was watching a lot of video back when I bought it.

Now I'll divert to the side, to talk video. A while back, about the time I was seconded to IBM, I started watching video on my bus-then-train trip from Island Bay to Petone. Initially I started watching these on my PSP, which I had previously purchased for this purpose (That, and with a keyboard which I'd heard was coming for the PSP, plus the PSP's Wi-Fi and browser, I was intending to use it at a mobile computing device). As the video content I watched diversified in terms of content and source, the need to trans-code the content to a format for the PSP became a bit annoying. The key thing was I'd download something overnight, not have time to trans-code it before work, and have to wait another day before I could watch it. This was particularly annoying with news programmes. Then I got my Sony VAIO UX-180 PC (Or UMPC). This solved all the limitations of the PSP and created new opportunities for use (Though at a cost in dollars). Interestingly, one of the advantages of the VAIO was its size meant I always had it on me. This is something that has changed since purchasing my Sager notebook, and changed even more with the use of my 80 GB iPod Classic, but more to come on that later. So with the VAIO I no longer needing to trans-code the content and life was good.

What wasn't happening, when my drive enclosure died, was portable music. When I was somewhere walking around, I'd always have my music going, as many people with iPods do. Over time, this missing service became very annoying. I tried to use the VAIO for this but A) It couldn't hold my whole MP3 library and B) it was like carrying around a brick for an MP3 player. Fine if I had my man-bag (Though it would heat up while on in the bag), not fine if I didn't. Now I shopped around, and it is a fact that you cannot get a high capacity (Over say 8 GB) MP3 player in NZ at a reasonable price, that is not an iPod. I suspect this would be a different story if Microsoft's Zune was available in NZ. The cool thing about the iPod's price is, Apple subsidies the price of the hardware with the expectation that they will make up for in purchases through the iTunes store. I don't like the iTunes store (Much like I don't like iPods and the iTunes client) because they are proprietary to Apple. I'm not some huge Open Sores advocate, but I can buy a laptop for Toshiba or Dell, and sure they both have Micro$oft Windows, but at least I have some choice and I can go put Ubuntu on it if I want. If you want an iPod, it only comes from Apple, and everything to do with it comes largely from Apple (Excluding third party accessories). So in the end I caved and bought an 80 GB iPod Classic as mentioned above, and it was great. I had all my music back, and I was able to use it as a portable removable drive, something I thought I couldn't do, as I thought you could only put stuff on it via iTunes.

So a little while later I noticed that most of the videos I was downloading from places like C-Net, TED, Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, Democracy Now!, etc were already formatted as MP4/M4V (H.264) and could 'easily' be placed on my iPod, a device I now had on me even more frequently than my VAIO. This, in combination with the fact that I now had my Sager notebook on me (The primary source for downloading my daily video content, as opposed to the TV torrents coming down on our server at home), meant I'd reached the goal of being able to watch whatever I wanted, basically wherever I wanted. What this has in turn evolved in to is a situation where I don't have enough time to watch all the video I'm subscribed to, much the same for all the RSS feeds I follow via Google Reader (And part of the reason you’ll find 40+ tabs open in Firefox when you see my machine. This MUST be a common scenario over the world as people's exposure to digital content *EXPLODES*. I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with it. Prioritisation is the probable answer, but not one I like...:-(

So this diatribe above gives the context for my dream portable device. And this device has the following specs (These are all MANDATORY, excluding the camera. Don't bother pointing me towards a device that is missing ANY of these specifications):

* The full-screen touch screen of the iPod Touch/iPhone/HTC Touch HD, etc.

* The capacity of an iPod Classic (i.e. 80+ GB).

* The slide-out QWERTY (Not AZERTY!!! Shut up Marty. Long story) keyboard of anything like the HTC Touch Pro, etc. People have asked why the hardware keyboard and not to just use the soft keyboard on the iPhone, etc. I hate having my screen real estate of whatever I'm trying to look at (Web, etc) or write (E-mail, document, etc) taken up by a bloody keyboard!

* Exchange integration (My killer app for e-mail, calendar and contacts).

* Media playback including MP3, MPEG-4/H.264 (Plus DivX would be a bonus)

* Wireless including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and available with CDMA or GPRS (I don't care which, as long as both are available for the choice) I'm not doing much mobile data yet for many reasons, including need, cost and the fact that my employer pays for my cellular data.

* Don't really care about the OS.

* A nice to have (Not compulsory though) would be a 3-4 MP camera with at least a x3 zoom.

...This device will achieve the last hurdle of merging my phone with my iPod. I'm sure this is coming. I'm a little surprised it's not here yet. I suspect there are three reasons 1) Cost (Though this is not a reason for some, and therefore not a reason unto itself), 2) patents (I'm sure there are some out there preventing this device from being a reality at this stage) and 3) Whatever other rats and mice of reasons that there are...

So yeah, there you go. I want one. Someday I'll have one. Just wondering why one isn't available now. I’d bet this device will run Google’s Android operating system. It won’t be from Apple, as I just can’t see them putting a hardware keyboard on an iPhone. Maybe someone will make a hardware add-on though I doubt it, and this would make the device rather large.

LIFE - TED...

For a wee while now, I've been watching some video podcasts from TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design - Wikipedia link) on science, technology and other stuff (As implied by the name of the conference). Some mind blowingly amazing stuff (And yet another thing trying to cram itself in to my non-exist 'free' time, but that is relative and a long story).

This video (Embedded below) in particular was AWESOME. It's short, and easy to watch. Just amazing!

INTERWEBS / POLITICS / LIFE - True

LIFE - I miss coffee...:-(

I think it's been like two or three weeks since I gave it up. I went cold turkey since it coincided with a case of gastroenteritis. Every other day I'm like "I'd really love a coffee". My reasons for giving it up were 33% health related, 33% cost related and 33% pride related. But when I get a bad nights sleep, which has been three out of the past five, I feel like a complete waste of space at work. And on the days when I drive up to Palmerston North from Wellington, I can't make it in one go (Mind you I am getting up at 0530 on those days and leaving the house at 0600) and have to stop for a nap least I wake up driving on the wrong side of the road...:-( I miss coffee...;_;

LIFE - ZOMG!

What I want for Christmas...

POLITICS - Veep debate in progress

"President Joe Six-Pack and Vice President Hockey Mom - The mavericks!". OMFG.

POLTITICS - Don't want these guys to feel left out

LIFE - More fun with spimmers

[30/09/2008 11:50:20 p.m.] jonesaddo says: hi

[30/09/2008 11:53:32 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: hi

[30/09/2008 11:53:51 p.m.] jonesaddo says: hello

[30/09/2008 11:53:58 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: hello

[30/09/2008 11:54:03 p.m.] jonesaddo says: am jones addo

[30/09/2008 11:54:09 p.m.] jonesaddo says: from ghana

[30/09/2008 11:54:19 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: I'm Peter from New Zealand.

[30/09/2008 11:54:24 p.m.] jonesaddo says: ok

[30/09/2008 11:54:34 p.m.] jonesaddo says: how are u today?

[30/09/2008 11:54:49 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: I'm well. A little sick, but getting better. How are you?

[30/09/2008 11:55:15 p.m.] jonesaddo says: thank God

[30/09/2008 11:55:27 p.m.] jonesaddo says: am a banker

[30/09/2008 11:55:40 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: I am a Computer Engineer.

[30/09/2008 11:55:53 p.m.] jonesaddo says: ok

[30/09/2008 11:56:35 p.m.] jonesaddo says: i work with equity bank ghana limited

[30/09/2008 11:56:47 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Sounds fun.

[30/09/2008 11:57:20 p.m.] jonesaddo says: at home now for holiday

[30/09/2008 11:58:36 p.m.] jonesaddo says: i will like to discuss an important issue with u

[30/09/2008 11:58:44 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Oh?

[30/09/2008 11:58:55 p.m.] jonesaddo says: yes

[30/09/2008 11:59:33 p.m.] jonesaddo says: i will like u to read this so that u will understand me better ok

[30/09/2008 11:59:44 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: ok

[12:01:35 a.m.] jonesaddo says: like i told u that my name is Jones Addo a banker working with equity bank ghana limited in West Africa. In this bank existed a dormant account for the past years,which belong to a Syrian national who is now late.

[12:02:07 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Ok. Would you like my bank account number now or later?

[12:02:37 a.m.] jonesaddo says:
when i discovered that there had been neither deposits nor withdrawals from this accountfor some time I decided to carry out a system investigation and discovered that none of the family member or relations of the owner aware of this account.

[12:02:52 a.m.] jonesaddo says: are u reading?

[12:03:04 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud

[12:05:51 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Hi Jones. Are you still there?

[12:06:44 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones?

[12:07:15 a.m.] jonesaddo says: This is the story in a nutshell. Now I want an account overseas where I can transfer these funds.

[12:07:51 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Ok. My account number is 12 3456 7891011 12.

[12:08:24 a.m.] jonesaddo says:
The amount at the moment, plus all the accumulated interest in this account stands at US$4,000,000.00 (Four million US dollars).

[12:09:51 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: You know, with the whole financial situation in the US at the moment, the US dollar isn't looking too attractive. Can you pay in Euros? Or Zimbabwean dollars?

[12:11:02 a.m.] jonesaddo says: i guess you are stupid

[12:11:17 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Me? Why do you say that?

[12:11:23 a.m.] jonesaddo says: u are not serious

[12:11:48 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Yes I am! Seriously! What more information do you need? I just want to help.

[12:12:04 a.m.] jonesaddo says: get out

[12:12:18 a.m.] jonesaddo says: fool ur self

[12:12:19 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Get out of where?

[12:12:58 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones?

[12:13:15 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Sorry, I just want to make sure I understand. Where would you like me to get out of?

[12:14:35 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Now Hones, you're not being very nice here. You come to me wishing to enlist my help, and now you call me a fool? Please, please, please, in God's name, let me help you.

[12:17:22 a.m.] jonesaddo says: get lost boy whoever u are

[12:19:22 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones, pleeeeease!!! I don't want to miss out on all that money! It's not fair! Please don't do this to me! I was stupid. I made a mistake! Please don't take this away from me! I...I don't know what I was thinking! I'll do anything you want! A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G! Please tell me how to access the funds of this long lost account in the name of a now deceased Syrian with no living relatives which has had no activity against it for a great period of time. Oh please!!!!!

[12:22:36 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones? Jones! You'd better tell me about this deal! If you don't my children might starve! Can you live with than on your conscience?

[12:24:38 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones! If you don't respond, I'm going to fly over to Ghana and kick your skinny little scamming arse! Do you hear me Jones?!?!? Tell me how I can get access to this US$4,000,000. TELL ME!!!!

[12:25:27 a.m.] jonesaddo says: u an ass hole ok

[12:26:02 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: No! I'm very nice person. Really. So. Back to where we started. You need my account number. I've given you that. What now?

[12:26:41 a.m.] jonesaddo says: now is urfather

[12:27:11 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Hmmm...I'm going to guess that English isn't your first language. Can you say that another way?

[12:28:54 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones, please. Can you restate your last comment? I don't understand.

[12:31:41 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones? Okay. Yes. I was an asshole before, but I'm over that. I've changed. I'm VERY sorry. I'm begging you! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!

[12:34:07 a.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Jones! You have broken my heart and ruined my life! I'm going to kill myself now, and all because you wouldn't talk to me. Goodbye cruel world! And remember. This is your fault! *BANG*

POLITICS -How rude of me...

I left out this fraudster:

LIAR

POLITICS - Too bad for you

Here is the man who should have been the next US President.

And this man should have been his VP.

...Too bad.

POLITICS - LIARS!

My conversation with a spimmer...

My Skype conversation with a spimmer...

[12:26:37 a.m.] Mr Davi George says: Accept my apology for contacting you this way which was due to the urgency of my request I'm rather in a very precarious situation that warrants my talking very little till I confirm our business relationship. If its money please that'd be no problem, I just need to know if you are capable of handling large funds and you can be trusted. Presently I'm in the tight clutches of my native government who has amongst other things clamped my company and my freedom all in a bid to finance its reform programmes in the past few years.

I'm a construction engineer and a gold merchant before. The internet for now is my only uncensored link to the outside world and I'd appreciate it if you take me very gravely. You'd be well remunerated for your effort and assistance.
I would need your utmost confidentiality and complete honesty in the transfer of this funds. I would need to tell you that all required arrangements have been made for the transfer of these funds through a diplomatic service to your secured receiving address.

However, shipment would commence 48hrs once I am in receipt of your details which includes your telephone and fax numbers, secured receiving address as well as your mobile if any. The diplomatic is not aware of the content as funds but the Luggage's would be marked "Diplomatic Luggage's" and it should be within the both of us until you receive the Luggage's.

They offer door to door delivery as P .o box is not acceptable. The said funds is total $US 9.5 Million all in 100 dollar bills, I would be willing to give you 25% while the rest would be invested till I can travel to meet with you. Can you handle these funds? Can you be trusted? I would be waiting for your details so that we can proceed. Kindly reply to my mail davigeorge55@gmail.com

[6:48:12 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Hi there. I don't have access to to my e-mail at the moment. Are you able to to discuss the matter via Skype?

[6:54:20 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Yes

[6:54:40 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: We can talk on skype

[6:55:16 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Are you there to talk to me now

[6:56:01 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Cool. Let me just take a second to make sure I understand everything.

[6:56:15 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Ok Mr Peter

[6:56:45 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Right. Sounds interesting. How can I help?

[6:57:08 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: I want you to receive the luggage for me

[6:57:21 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: But i would like to know if you can be trusted and if you are capable of handling large fund ?

[6:57:25 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Okay. I'm fine with that. What shall I do now?

[6:57:35 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Certainly.

[6:58:19 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Very good, i want you to email me your residence address where the luggage will be delivered to you in 48 hours

[6:58:29 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: So that we can proceed

[6:59:14 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Like I say, I don't have access to my e-mail at the moment. I'm using a friend's computer. So is the first thing you need my address for delivery of the luggage?

[6:59:45 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Yes by then i can give you the security vault details for you to contact them for the release and delivery of my luggage.

[7:00:01 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: I want you to add me to your skype so that i can see you online.

[7:00:26 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: ok. okay.

[7:01:46 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: can you send through the add request again?

[7:02:59 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: I want to confirm your add to skype so that i can see you when you are online.

[7:03:21 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Yeah. Can you do it again? I accidentally closed it before.

[7:03:43 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: What do you mean

[7:03:52 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Can you try to add me again?

[7:04:22 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Ok i will do that again

[7:04:47 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: ok. done.

[7:05:17 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Very good. you can send me your residence address through here so that i can give you the security company details and contact

[7:06:17 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Alright. So that's Peter Hamilton. 54 Caliope Road, Palmerston North, 4412, New Zealand. Do you want a phone number as well?

[7:07:00 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Yes but i cant call you because i am in house arrest of my native government in Liberia.

[7:07:18 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: I will give you the contact details and what to write to the security company.

[7:08:04 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: You should note that this is highly confidential between you and me even the security company does not know there is fund in the luggage because its marked diplomatic.

[7:08:11 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: okay. My number is +64 6 382 9916. House arrest must suck. I hope I can help.

[7:08:54 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Yes i need your partnership to receieve the luggage for me 25% of the fund will be yours while we shall talk about what you will invest for the rest on.

[7:09:26 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: ok. Glad I can help.

[7:10:08 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Thank you.

[7:11:27 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Write an email message to the Vault manager now, stating that you are the Sole beneficiary for the luggage of Mr. Davi george, deposited on May 31st 2006, that you want the luggage deliver to you in the next 48hours, any further requirements he should contact you without hesitation. Make sure you copy me every email you send to him and every email you receive from him to davigeorge55@gmail.com

Name: Mr. Azeez Odusanya
Company Name: Rocket Security Vault Limited
Company Email: rsvlimited@rocketmail.com
inforocket@rocketmail.com
Office Telephone: +234-807-900-1587
Mobile Telephone: +234-803-739-1960

[7:13:34 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Did you get it

[7:14:32 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Yeah. Like I said, I don't have access to my e-mail since I'm using a friend's computer at the moment. I'm just trying to see what I can do. Do we have to wait until I can get to my e-mail?

[7:15:45 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Yes you have to email them and contact the security manager on his phone number

[7:16:03 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: So that i can send him an email too that you are the beneficiary of my luggage and he should ship it to you.

[7:16:19 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Pls dont mention there is fund in the luggage and this is between you and me.

[7:21:24 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: I want to get some rest and talk to you soon.

[7:22:23 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: I won't be online again for a while. Perhaps we can get thrings going now? The sooner we do, the sooner I can help.

[7:22:58 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Yes you should contact the security vault company and get back to me

[7:24:14 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: What do you need to call me about? I've sent the e-mail. I wonder how long it will take until we hear something. I guess maybe something will arrive within the next 48 hours?

[7:25:15 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: you should call them to acknowledge your email. and tell Mr Azeez that you are my beneficiary that i will aswell send him an email for him to confirm

[7:25:36 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: alright. hang on a sec.

[7:25:45 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Ok.

[7:26:41 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: hmmm...I'm just getting a funny beeping noise when I dial those numbers. Can you confirm they are correct?

[7:27:25 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Ok

[7:29:12 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: I've just realised I've given you a lot of info, but I don't know much about you. To make sure the trust goes both ways, can I have your address please?

[7:30:39 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Like i said to you that i am in house arrest which i can release it to you.

[7:31:02 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: You mean can't?

[7:31:39 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Sure i can, trust is what we need and i am here to make you my helper and partner to handle the fund for me, i am 56 years of age

[7:32:32 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: 1, GOVERMENT RESIDENCE AREA, MONROVIA, LIBERIA, AFRICA.

[7:33:44 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: That's an interesting address. No street or anything?

[7:34:15 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: There is no street as i cant go out even the internet is uncensored.

[7:35:58 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: alright. I can't get through to those numbers. It just makes a funny beeping noise. Let me check with my phone company to see what this means.

[7:36:28 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: How did you dial it

[7:37:39 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: To dial out of NZ, we add 00 to the font of the number. I'm just on hold with the phone company. Hang on.

[7:38:03 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: OK

[7:38:33 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Youu should make it 00 234-803-739-1960

[7:40:02 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Huh. My phone company says these numbers are blocked for some reason. They are finding out why for me.

[7:40:17 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Ok.

[7:40:31 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: I want to get some rest now because of my health

[7:40:50 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: what time is it there?

[7:41:03 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: You should keep me posted Mr Peter, Its 7:41am in Liberia.

[7:41:59 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: wow. It's 7:41pm here. That's funny. Have you ever been to New Zealand?

[7:42:22 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: No i have not been there but i have been to Australia.

[7:42:43 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: Mr Peter can we talk later, i need to get some rest now as i am sick.

[7:43:12 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Me too. I don't like Australia. Maybe I'll come to Liberia though. I've always wanted to go to Europe.

[7:43:34 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: I will talk to you when i am awake.

[7:43:38 p.m.] Mr Davi George says: (handshake)

[7:44:54 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Hey. I got an e-mail reply from that company. They said they'll send the luggage through. They're asking for payment to send the items. Any idea what I should do now?

[7:46:10 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Mr Davi?

[7:46:53 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Are you there?

[7:48:46 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: Okay. I've sent through payment for delivery of the luggage. I guess I just wait for delivery now.

[7:51:01 p.m.] Peter Hamilton says: I guess you're gone now. Let me know when you're back online, and hopefully we can carry on our conversation. I could sure use the money, and I'm glad I can help.

POLITICS - Liar liar pants on fire

To quote a fellow redditor:

Ending the Iraq War: Failure
Stopping Wire Tapping: Failure
Impeaching a Criminial President: Failure
Pelosi: Full of Shit

Just another lie

Just like dear old Winnie. If NZ First get over 5% in the party vote at the elections, I'll seriously have to wonder about some people's scruples.

GEEK - What do you do...

...when keeping up with your RSS feeds takes 25 hours a day? :-(

LIFE - The timeline

Heads up. Here's how it's going to go down.

1) Right now, as you're aware, the US financial system is experiencing the precursors to the big meltdown. I'm not a doomsayer with my placard announcing 'The end is neigh!'. I'm not exacerbating the problem by pointing this out.

2) The complete meltdown is being held off by two things:

A) The 'market' is waiting to see what happens when these financial institutions go under or are bailed out.

...and:

B) The US Presidential election

3) So as the market continues to crumble, and some institutions are bailed out, and some are allowed to fail the outcome is, in some instances the investors lose and in some instances the US tax payer is left with the debt. You'll note this is a lose/lose scenario. There is no win. There is no magic economic recovery at the end of the rainbow. There is no credit card with a zero balance you can look at to pay for tomorrow's groceries.

4) Who ever the poor sod is who inherits the White House, it's too late. The Titanic has struck the iceberg. The only difference is Obama wants the deck chairs aft and McSame wants them forward. So while people are holding their breath, the outcome won't make much difference.

...So the result is, after a period of evaluation (No more than three months), after the US Presidential election and after Christmas (Because there are some that will say that you buying plastic crap from China with your credit card can breath life in to the dead corpse that is the US economy) it's time to pay the piper.

You need four things to survive:

Air
Water
Food
Shelter

...You'll probably find the bottom three cost you money (And some would love to find a way to make you pay for the first one). And if you're in debt or have no job then these will be hard to come by. I hope who ever you are and where ever you are, you're ready for the ride. It wasn't fun in '29, and it's not going to be fun this time. This is your final warning. Now STFU and get back to work wage slave.

GEEK - I want...

...The HTC Touch Pro and the HTC Touch HD to have babies so I can have an HD with a sliding keyboard....Ummm. My underpants are all sticky now...:-(

LIFE - What's the difference...

...between someone who works in marketing, a lawyer, a lobbyist and a politician? There must be a common seed to these people. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's genetic. Perhaps one day they'll test for this gene in utero like they do with Down Syndrome.

LIFE - My hero (Well one of them)

Benjamin "Yahtzee" Richard Croshaw of Zero Punctuation.

POLITICS - A wasted vote?

I've been discussing voting decisions with someone recently who said they were considering a vote for a third party in the US Presidential election. Obviously I've considered it previously, given my current options, but how on Earth is a vote for a third party in the US anything other than a wasted vote? As I said at the time, it may register as a protest vote, but the response from the pigs at the trough is of course "Your protest has been noted, now STFU and get back to work".

Glassbooth confirms what I already know, and that is out of the candidates available at this stage, I agree most strongly with Ralph Nader. But what the heck am I supposed to do when McSame wins by 1% over Obama, and I look at the votes which Nader got? You can argue stats all you want, but it is a fact that if those voting for Nader had to choose between Obama and McSame, that they would vote for Obama (Or any Democrat to make the generalisation), so a vote for Nader is one less vote for the Democrat. WTF are we supposed to do?

POLITICS - NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

We'd just had eight years of an asshat who can't pronounce nuclear, we do not need this vacuous waste of space carrying on the tradition. I like my television, and I don't want the increased risk of throwing something at it by listening to someone say "nucular" for another four years!!!

LIFE - Just because I can...

Told you so
Told you so
Told you so

The economy is fine! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

LIFE - Perhaps we'll know in a few months...

...Indeed.

LIFE - Can someone please explain...

When Russia invades a sovereign country, it is "...an act of aggression condemned by the international community..." (To paraphrase Dick Cheney), but when the US does it, it's spreading freedom and democracy, or ensuring national security.

The only people who are worse than the hypocrites perpetrating these acts, are the people who are allowing them to undertake these acts, in their names.

PS - If my country (i.e. the country I live in and consider myself a citizen of despite not having completed my citizen application) I would not be getting up in the morning, and going to work and going home and eating dinner and playing with my kids. I would be standing in front of the steps of my house of representitives DEMANDING an explanation, and if that explanation was as WEAK as the explanation being given by these crooks and liars, then I would have my torch and noose and I would do something about it!

POLITICS - PSSST. Hey you...

[This post is not directed towards any specific individuals]

...Are you American? If not, you may ignore the rest of this post. Stuff it. This applies to anyone voting anywhere.

Are you eligible to vote? If not, you might ignore the rest of this post, though it depends on how much you care about things, whether you can vote or note.

If you are eligible, are you planning on voting in the coming US Presidential election? If not, plainly and simply and with no excuses, YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT!

I've had soooo many people say "Well I didn't vote for Bush, so his Presidency isn't my fault". Two things here. 1) What have you done to discuss the matter of the direction US politics (and the day-to-day impacts to your life that politics creates) has taken over the past two decades (And the past eight in particular), outside of casual bitching with friends or family? 2) What have you done to ensure that the direction that politics takes heads in the direction that you want? I suspect the answer to both is "None".

From close observation of politicians in the US and NZ over the past seven years, I have lost all faith in politicians as a group of individuals. I have watched some honest people try to enter in to, or to succeed in politics, only to see them leave or struggle to achieve anything. Those that do succeed are those that are selfish. This probably applies to anything in life really, but I struggle to think of anything else that has as much impact on all of our lives as the decisions of the politicians that WE ELECT to represent us. From observation, politics is about one thing and one thing only and that is to get re-elected. Oh sure, somewhere in the are the hard decisions to be made that keep an economy and a country running. But deep down, every decision that is made is run through a filter of 'what will happen to my re-election if I make this decision?'.

My bull-shit meter is broken with all the crap flowing from the mouths of those running for office in both the US and NZ. Every word that leaves a politicians mouth is:

XYZ is a problem, or everything is broken. And electing me/my party is the solution.

Fuck you!

Now. Back to my original questions. If you do nothing more than vote. If you do nothing to interact with other people, particularly those who disagree with your perspective on things, then you are as much a piece of the problem as these politicians who you didn't vote for. Politics is now about getting 51% of the vote during the election, and then doing whatever the fuck you want to during your period in office (While applying your 'What will happen to my re-election if I make this decision' filter). And life has three camps. Those on the right. Those on the left. And those in the middle that the right and left fight over to get their 51%.

I wish everyone over thought things as I have been accused of doing. I wish everyone was capable of informing and educating themselves. But they are not. Some people can't. Some people don't want to. And if you want the things that you think are important to be represented, then you are going to have to fight to spread the word. Because the people on the other side are already fighting. And if you do nothing, then they will win.

And if your answer is "I'm too busy",then I'll say it now, and I'll say it later (When you're locked up in a prison camp after attempting to express your freedom of speech as things have finally got to the point where you can't take it any more, but it will probably be too late)...FUCK YOU!

POLITICS - Jesus-freak-hockey-mom for veep

Good luck with that. EXACTLY the type of Yank who annoys the rest of the sensible world...

LIFE - Nice country you got there

Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested At the RNC

...A little light on detail, but if you care, look it up. If you don't, just go back to whatever you were watching on television.

POLITICS - Douchebag vs. Turd Sandwhich

So here we are. The candidates and their veeps have been chosen. It's Obama vs. McCain. And as historic as the candidacy of Obama is, and as much of a 'change' as he might represent, I still look at those choices and feel that Americans have chosen the safe options. The same 'safe' candidates that always make it to this point, and not the real cold, hard look candidates who might really address the difficult choices that need to be made. But who am I kidding? The US President is just one person (Well....Along with their Administration). I believe it is much easier for one person to break things than it is for them to fix things. And that is if their motivation is to fix things.

I believe unequivocally that McCain represent a party that exists for one purpose only and that is to make rich, old, white men richer. The party of trickle-down economics. Oh. The benefits haven't trickled down to you? You must not be working hard enough...

So that leaves Obama. But what does Obama stand for? If you had to condense his principles down to a single factoid or collection of details, I don't know what they are.

So I have a candidate that I simply will not vote for. And this isn't based on blind, partisan party politics, but based on listening to what McCain has said, and in many cases has said again (Only in the opposite direction of something he said earlier). And a candidate that I am not sure of. Based on this, it's obvious where a 'no' vs. a 'maybe' will go. But it's not like I have an opportunity to vote for who I really want. For someone who will have looked to make some fundamental changes to the rules of the game. America is no longer the home of the free and the land of the brave. It is the home of the quest to get rich. The last grasp to secure one's own fortune while everything else falls apart. It doesn't matter who you vote for. If the imbalance of wealth does not change, and if the values between individual wealth and the commonwealth do not change, then the resulting direction of the US economy and everything that depends on it will not change.

That being said, those who are pulling the string DO NO WANT REAL CHANGE. They have the money. They have the power. And you and your namby-pamby vote will not get in their way. They already own your candidate, whichever side you choose.

LIFE - Baaaaaarrrrffffff!

K. I've had a lot of things happen since I blogged last. And I'll get around to blogging them at some stage. But here I am, watching an old episode of Sunday with a story about the movie Mama Mia, which my wife and sister watched during the latter's recent visit.

Let me summarise why I (And many males) find Abba annoying. Women's reaction to Abba consistently seems to be summarised on a level of fantasy and dreams. Listening to Abba's lyrics and watching women react when an Abba song is played. It's all fantasy, which leads to unhappiness. "Why isn't life like fantasy?" they ask. Because it's real life. Get the fuck over it. Perhaps if you spent some time making your fantasies reality instead of just leaving them as fantasy, you wouldn't be pining over what wasn't, but which you wish it was. God it's annoying! Excuse me while I go throw up...

LIFE - ???

I don't know why, but for some reason, someone's name popped in to my head the other day, and I don't know why I know the name:

Tessa Pederson

...Who is Tessa Pederson? Did I work with her somewhere, or go to school with her? I looked up the name on Old Friends, but got no hits. How fustraiting. 99% of people who I'd have worked with relatively closely are in my contacts, but nothing there. Who is she?

@_@

So let me give you a scenario. I'm sitting in a cafeteria. The cafeteria is in the student union building of Massey University. I've got some lunch from the cafe. I am wirelessly connected to the Massey staff wireless network via my laptop. I'm munching on my lunch (Spag since you ask); listing to some Orbital on my iPod, going..."I must be in the twilight zone". And yet, this kinda summarises my experience at Massey so far. The default is open. The default is trust (Within reason). The first things when I walked in the door weren't:

1) Reduce costs
2) Reduce costs
3) Reduce costs

...And while cost reduction is surely in the back of someone's mind somewhere, or as an engineer is in my mind from an efficiency perspective, there is just something about this place. I know it is only week two, and one can't judge yet. But it is just so fundamentally different from anything else I have experienced previously. Obviously someday I will become as jaded as everyone does who's been anywhere for any length of time. But things here are just different.

The first things I noticed are the qualities I would use to describe the environment. Not specifically ITS where I work, but the University itself. Words like 'bohemian' and 'intellectual'. I don't imagine it is necessarily 'egalitarian', as I'm sure there are some egos around somewhere. Discrimination is something I have seen none of. Is this a university thing? Is it a generation thing? As I read somewhere, is this because the student body is of an age where their minds are broader than their waste-lines, which is a trend which tends to reverse with the marching advance of age? There are people here of all ages, genders, races, beliefs and abilities. It's just awesome to see. No over-dressed corporate snobs looking down their noses at someone in a pair of jeans. Surely there must be some type of snobbery around though, and I have yet to recognise it. At the end of the day, people are still people.

So as I said to the head of ITS while passing in the hall, "I think I've finally found the place I can call home". It's only taken a few years...:-)

LIFE - Coolness...

Learn Magic Tricks at 5min.com

LIFE - And death. Bye George...

The comedian George Carlin died on June 22nd. Two things I value very highly in life are people who can make you laugh, and people who can make you think, and George did both. As you can see, George was on 'My political dream team' as Secretary of State. Thank you George. Through your body of work you have left us with a legacy to remember and thanks to technology, we can still enjoy your efforts. And one way other the other, you either know now or you don't. I wonder which it is...

Oh. And while I'm here: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits

LIFE - Update

So many things have happened over the past few weeks:

1) I have been offered the position of 'Systems Engineer - Security' at Massey University in Palmerston North.

2) We are unconditional on 34 Potts Road, Levin.

3) I resigned from DTSL again, but for real this time.

4) Mum and family are here from the States, and they will all be gone again before you know it...:-(

5) My sister Gayle will be here in a few weeks.

...Oh. And Hybrid went down to Christchurch to play some paintball at the 2008 Redz International (LOL..."International") Tournament. We won it. Had a blast on a road trip with the boys and playing with Todd and Seth from Lesion.

GEEK - TOYZ!!!

First off, my G3 iBook is for sale on Tard Me. Go buy it!

Secondly, my Sager NP9262 is here!!! w00t! And even better, she is now triple booting Vista, OSx86 and Ubuntu. Once upon a time I expected to be quad booting with XP, but Vista has run better than expected.

LIFE - Ummm...Yeah

Mum and family are visiting at the moment. And we plan to go out for dinner one evening. I was running late in the morning, so I drove rather than bus and train.

I get to the restaurant at 18:00 for the booking. I get out of the truck, grab my bag (As I don't want to leave my new lappy in the car), click the lock and close the door. Now as I'm standing there, I can hear something, and it seems strange, as there were no other vehicles next to me at the time, but the sound I hear is a motor idling gently, and a radio is going. I look down at the truck and go "Well that can't be you going", and I start heading to the restaurant door. But as I start to walk away from the truck, I think "Well why can't that be the truck? Where are the keys?". They're not in my pocket. So I put my hand on the bonnet, and sure enough, there is a vibration there. So I walk up to the driver's window, look down at the steering column to see the keychain dangling from the ignition. Nice one. So I've locked the keys in the truck and left the motor running and the radio on. Excellent...

I give Margaret a call at home since she's not at the restaurant yet, and ask her to contact the AA. She gets back and says the AA is $160 joining fee, plus a call-out fee, so she's organised a lock-smith instead. Hey AA. You missed out on some dosh. Sort that crap out.

Everyone else start's showing yup, and I say "Hey! Wanna see something funny?" and I take them to the truck. I say nothing, just waiting. A few wrong guesses, and then finally Richard says "The truck is running". Sure enough! So I tell them the whole story, which of course they all think is hilarious. Richard took a video which will be on YouTube at some stage.

Margaret arrives, and she rolls her eyes, as only a wife can roll her eyes at her husband.

After about 45 minutes the lock-smith shows up. Puts a wedge in the door. Inserts an inflatable mat, like the Riva-Rocci cuff on a sphygmomanometer. Puts through a coat hanger thingy which goes down under the window and pops the lock. All in about 30 seconds. $120 later and I have the keys to the truck.

The moral of the story is DON'T DO THAT!!!

GEEK - Windows Vista...Ball 1?

Hmmm...So the new beasty arrived care of the family coming to visit from the US. And damned if the thing doesn't run Vista well (With a Core 2 Duo proc, 4 GB of RAM and a GeForce 8800GTX). Everyone who has seen it has said "Damn. This thing actually runs Vista at an acceptable pace". Yeah. I'm rather surprised. So OSx86 and Ubuntu come next...

LIFE - World's #1 Errorist

Sorry for the hotlinking...

SPAM - Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam

Click here to enter. Make sure you use an e-mail address for which you don't mind getting spammed:

POLITICS - You Have Got To Be Kidding

I'm starting to lose track of how many exit polls and interviews I heard with Americans who simply say:

"I will not vote for Barack Obama because he is black"

FOR FUCKS SAKE! Where do you people come from? When will your racist, discriminatory views die you fricking dinosaurs? If you get stuck with McCain because you won't vote for a black guy, I really seriously do give up on you.

POLITICS - Just fuck off already, please!

GEEK - Windows Vista - Strike 3.5

Couple of quick squirts...

I've left the Ron Paul thingy above, as I can still wish, even though it is not going to happen. I've slowly watched my choices for this year’s US Presidential election being whittled away (Well, basically Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul and maybe John Edwards). I'm basically left with Barack Obama now. And unfortunately, while I think he's a step in the right direction on some things, I don't think he will bring about the level of change required on a number of important issues (Poverty and wealth distribution, the power lobbyists have in US politics, foreign policy and unconditional support for Israel which fuels much of the conflict in the Middle East). If it came down to Clinton or McCain, I'm not sure what I'd do, as I don't want to give either of them my vote.

Now on to the subject mentioned in the title. Sorry Microsoft (We'll, I'm not really sorry at the end of the day), but I've now given Windows Vista three goes (One when it was first released, two about six months later when there were a number of updates released, and three since SP1 was released. My experience has been pretty much the same across all three occasions. Sluggish performance at just about anything. It is not a 'snappy' OS. Now my performance index is 4.5, so this machine is no slouch. But just about any single task (Generally media playback) seems to max out the machine's CPU. Whereas Windows XP, any of these individual tasks might suck up about 25% of the CPU. Admittedly this has all been on my existing machine which is about three to four years old now (Single core proc, 2 GB of RAM), but as I say, that performance index isn’t too shabby. Would be curious to see how it goes on some current hardware (Excluding my wife’s machine as mentioned below), but there have been delays getting my new laptop (Grrrrr).

As time has passed, Margaret's install of Vista has gotten slower and slower (As Windows machines do). I was going to rebuild her machine with Vista again, but SP1 isn't out for general release yet, and the copy I have is integrated with the install disk. So rather than install Vista (sans-SP1) and XP, we just went with XP. And her machine screams.

Really Microsoft. As much as anyone might try and talk things up about Vista getting better, the general perception about Vista is 100% accurate. The OS is crap. Your operating paradigm of "Must ship a new version of Windows every 5 years to make money" is flawed, as you A) pushed Vista out before it was ready, B) killed a lot of the things that might have been cool about Vista and C) left in a bunch of stuff which really does nothing anyway. Additionally I understand that things change from one version of Windows to another, but renaming every item in Control Panel and changing every task on how a PC is managed, wasn't really necessary. But if you'd left too many things the same as XP, people would have said "It's just like XP", and no one would have been compelled to upgrade. Sorry, but you failed.

LIFE - It's like deja vu all over again...

Across my life, like many (Most?) people, I've had deja vu, ranging from fairly mild, to fairly strong. In the past couple of years, I've had some pretty way-out experiences:

1) While in Maine (USA) visiting family, we were out at a restaurant. I went outside to get something from the car. There was a path leading from the restaurant to the car park, and a set of stairs to climb which obscured the car park. Just as I was getting to the bottom of the stairs, I had a flash of two people, a female on the left and male on the right, walking towards me holding hands. As I crested the top of the stairs, there were these two people walking towards me, just as I'd seen. Freaked me out, and I rang back in to tell everyone.

2) While in the US on the same trip (When my Grandfather passed), we were all out for lunch at another restaurant. While we were sitting there, I saw my Grandfather behind and to the side of my mother. Mum looked at me, and asked me what the look on my face was. I said I'd just seen my Grandfather standing there. Mum looked straight in at me in amazement and said "He was just here. He said "Everything is going to be okay"".

3) A few weeks back, I was working on a problem affecting a server here in NZ. Guys in Australia were remote controlling the server as we worked on the problem. I had a flash in my head of an error message appearing. About 15 seconds later, the error appeared on the screen. The error had nothing to do with what we were working on. As a matter of fact, the error didn't mean anything to me. I was just floored.

4) Today while out shopping, I was about to give my contact details to the woman in the shop so they could get back to me. She put her pen to the paper, and I said "My name is Pe...", and we said in sync "...eter". Then she said "I knew you were going to say Peter". And I was like "WTF?", and she said, "You were projecting". So we spent the next few minutes talking.

...Back in the day, I didn't think much of this stuff. But particularly as they become more frequent and stronger, I want to know what's going on. I am not a religious person, but I believe I have the potential to be a spiritual person. I just need to figure out what's going on...

POLITICS - My dream team

...for 2012 (Since there is no way it will happen in 2008):

President - Bill Moyers
Vice-President - Colin Powell
Secretary of State - Bill Cosby
Secretary of Defence - Robin Williams
Attorney General - George Carlin

...Unfortunately, none of these people would want these jobs, which is, IMHO, exactly why they should have them. There have been efforts to draft Moyers and Powell to these positions, but unfortunately they have not succeeded.

Now all these names are male. Some female suggestions are welcome.

GEEK - Cutie

Putting together all of Kat's 'computerisms':

"Send an emall to mdrive at enstends.com"

...When Kat types on a keyboard she says she's sending "emall". M: drive is where our multimedia stuff is. "Enstends" is how Kat says EastEnders, which is Megz favourite television program. And Kat often says "[random-thing].com". And her mouse skills are getting good too...

P.S. To be greeted with Kat walking in with something in her hands saying "Dat's da M: drive Daddy. Load it". Dat's ma girl...:-)

LFE - Wow...22 years.

Hard to believe it's been that long:

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

LIFE - From Kunstler's bog...

"From time-to-time, I feel it's necessary to remind readers what we can actually do in the face of this long emergency. Voters and candidates in the primary season have been hollering about "change" but I'm afraid the dirty secret of this campaign is that the American public doesn't want to change its behavior at all. What it really wants is someone to promise them they can keep on doing what they're used to doing: buying more stuff they can't afford, eating more shitty food that will kill them, and driving more miles than circumstances will allow..."

The emphasis is mine.

LIFE - LOL

I guess...

[Deleted - I thought I'd won. Really I was just on the upwards cycle at the time, and it just continues].

INTERWEBS - I haz dem

I haven't blogged some of the cool things on the web as I've found them for a while. Not that anyone is reading my blog anyway. So an interesting thing stumbled across via Reddit:

richard hammond presents bloody omaha (the graphics)

LIFE - Lessons In Love

There is more to this world than I can see, hear, taste, touch or smell.

I will not try...

I will not wait for...

I will not hope for...

I am making it happen!

TRUTH

LIFE - EX-TER-MIN-ATE

So yeah. It's December. Lots of stuff goes down in December. And on top of all the usual craziness, it was my birthday. So Megz got me the 12" R/C Dalek I've been wanting for ages. He rocks! I think he's even cooler than my Optimus Prime. The Dalek terrifies the cats (As half of the videos on YouTube are of people doing with their Daleks), and Kat was wary of him to start, but now she likes giving him kisses and cuddles. She is soooooo doomed to be a geek. Good girl!

And then it was Kirfa (Kathleen's word for Christmas). I'm home for a couple of weeks, so I can help out a bit and spend time with the family. I dunno how Megz copes with the two of them while I'm at work. It's hard enough to cope with both of them when we're both home. This was Kat's first real Kirfa that she knew what was going on. She had a blast, and made out like a bandit. It was Dora the Explorer city. I think the only Dora thing she didn't get was Dora the Explorer Flavoured Water. Megz is now caught up on all the Sims 2 expansions and bits (We just need to find some time for her to play), Vicky got clothes and toys, and daddy got a pair of Bluetooth headphones, to replace the previous three pair (loooooong story).

So we’re all getting by. If there was anything I would have liked to have given my wife for Kirfa, it would have been a bottle of Free Time. I'm still looking for some, but everyone seems to be out of stock...:-(

GEEK - I WANT!!!

POLITICS - Keep shopping...

From:

"This is a signal difference from the Vietnam era, and not necessarily for the better. During that unpopular war, disaffected Americans took to the streets and sometimes broke laws in an angry assault on American governmental institutions. The Bush years have brought an even more effective assault on those institutions from within. While the public has not erupted in riots, the executive branch has subverted the rule of law in often secretive increments. The results amount to a quiet coup, ultimately more insidious than a blatant putsch like General Musharraf’s."

...Don't come asking me for help when the shit hits the fan. I'll just tell you that you should have done something about it when you had the chance...

TUBES - Kill me now...

Find me on MySpace and be my friend stalker!

POLITICS - Too right

Keith Olbermann sums it up exactly!

LIFE - Sums it up really...

Couldn't have said it better myself

LIFE - What kind of superhero are you?

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 75% Green Lantern 75% The Flash 70% Iron Man 70% Catwoman 65% Superman 60% Robin 55% Supergirl 48% Wonder Woman 43% Hulk 40% Batman 30%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

LIFE - Two updates in one day? WTF?

Question for the God Squad'ers out there. If God created Adam and Eve (And they were perfect since God created them), and they lived in the Garden of Eden, and were cast out after the original sin, then God will have created all the things that happen to human being since we left the Garden. Some examples being:

Seborrhoeic Dermatitis
Dementia
AIDS
George W. Dickhead

...Nice God. Must remember to thank him some time.

LIFE - Odds and sods

So we're out of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and the post-game analysis has begun. And while the games are won and lost on the pitch, outside of that I'll say we lost because modern rugby is about:

* Selling little bits of dirt from rugby pitches All Blacks have played on.
* Selling little Dan Carter figures that can't stand up.
* What underwear Dan Carter is wearing.
* What colour jerseys the team will wear (Admittedly we didn't seem too fussed).
* Who's airing how much of 'someone else's' game footage.

...Modern rugby is all about the commercials now. Stuff this. I read in the US, that a while back, college football had increased in popularity at the expense of the NFL because of how commercial professional football had become. And the same thing is happening to international rugby. I'll stick with the Air New Zealand Cup. The All Blacks need to get back to their roots (IMHO) and focus on winning rugby, and stuff all this commercial crap.

Now. On to another topical subject. New Zealand's 2007 Local Government Elections. I saw in the paper that the initial receipt of votes would seem to be indicating an apathetically low rate of voting. Let me tell you this. There are people in Myanmar who have DIED recently to try and get the right to vote which so many of us take for granted. If you don't vote, then you have ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to complain once about anything (Be is traffic, the cost of rates, where your kids go to school, the state of local healthcare, trash and tagging, how much is costs to go to the tip, etc). Vote damn it!

LIFE - Another test?

Oh my...(Dang. Need to clean up the formatting if I can).

Pure Geek 43 % Nerd, 65% Geek, 8% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Geek, earning you the title of: Pure Geek. It's not that you're a school junkie, like the nerd, and you don't really stand out in a crowd, like the dork, you just have some interests that aren't quite mainstream. Perhaps it's anime, perhaps it's computers, perhaps it's bottlecaps, perhaps it's all of those and more. Your interests take you to events and gatherings that are filled with people you find unusual and beyond-the-pale, but you don't quite consider yourself "of that crowd." Instead, you consider yourself to be fairly normal. Which, you are. Congratulations! You're the one on the RIGHT! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

This test tracked 3 variables. How the score compared to the other people's:

	Higher than 28% on nerdiness
	Higher than 91% on geekosity
	Higher than 3% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

LIFE - Update

2nd (Again) still sucks arse!

And:

HUMOUR - Watching the grass grow

So I overhear some of the guys at work talking about something, and a comment stands out about something being "...as much fun as paint drying". So I respond saying that "...competitive paint drying is actually quite interesting". And of the the others responds with "...it's up there with competitive grass growing...Lets watch that again in slow-mo". Had me howling...

LIFE - I don't suffer fools lightly....

Wish I didn't spend so much time blogging about the negative nowadays. If you want the positive in my life at the moment, checkout my wife or my daughter’s blogs. You're supposed to accentuate the positive and all. However, being so busy with everything nowadays, it really takes something out of the ordinary to rouse me to blog. Such as:

This page

...And therefore:

Meh!

...Oh. While I'm here. Due to a power supply failure in the disk storage enclosure attached to our server at home, two drives dropped out of our RAID5 array, breaking the array and rendering the data inaccessible. Attempts to tell the controller "The drives are there. You are okay." didn't result in much. So I ran some array analysis software called RAID Reconstructor from Runtime Software (Who I presume don't mind me linking to their web page) and it wasn't able to detect the array config for cloning. So we've logged a call with them and they do a deeper analysis and fingers (And toes, and hair and eyes) crossed, hopefully they can assist with cloning the array so we can recover the data. If they are successful, it will cost US$299, but that is a fee I will gladly pay at this stage. A local crowd in NZ quoted NZ$3500 (Plus sundries) and they said that was discounting the price since I wasn't a business.

Now since I don't suffer fools lightly, you can imagine that, here I am, and IT engineer, and yes, yes, yes, I had no backups. I know. Dumbest thing in the whole world. Moronic. Idiotic. Utterly stupid. In my defence, when the array was built, I sunk all our funds in to the drives that make up the array, and couldn't afford a disk to back the approximately 500+ GB of data on the array. Well. We have our photos and music backed up to my portable drive. And since the array was built, backups have been out-of-sight, out-of-mind. So. Here's hoping...

Lastly, while updating my blog, I've just received a call from the Young New Zealanders' Foundation, part of who's focus is working to address the fact that New Zealand has one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world (Which I fail to understand, with Godzone being one of the best places in the world to live). So if you've got a sec, and you think "I haven't made a charitable donation to anyone in a while" (And it is a crowded, competitive market), have a look at their website, and have a think.

LIFE - I'll say it again...

Hey President Fucktard! Eavesdrop this!:

LIFE - The Police

Got tickets. That is all.

LIFE - The end of an era

Right. I haven't actually managed to post this on my blog yet, and I've done a patchy job of getting word out. We're moving back to Wellington. The details are:

I'm working for a company called Desktop Technology Services Limited (DTSL). DTSL is an IT vendor/managed service provider with a presence across New Zealand. My role is 'Technical Team Leader' for the Wellington Field Services Team, comprised of 16 Engineers. I've been looking for a year, and it's taken that long to find something I really wanted (I was a bit iffy on some of the job offers I'd received previously, and I came second for a few roles as well).

So off we go. Well kind of. I finish at Chubb tomorrow. I start in Wellington on Monday. Megz ad Kat were due to come with, however now that we're selling the house in Dorkland (Yay! I get to be a Wellingtonian again!), the agent has suggested that a furnished house will sell quicker and for more money, so the girls will stay behind for a while. We are expecting the house to sell relatively quickly. Getting a bit sad as the realisation of selling our home hits...home.



For those reading Megz and Kat's blogs, they are doing well. We've not got videos up on YouTube (Linked under 'My Videos' on my page and Megz'). Kat's been crawling for a few months, got her first three words come through over the past few weeks, being:

Psk (Pussy cat)
dada
muhmuh

...and she's pulling herself up to stand on everything. Can't wait till we start baby proofing in Wellington. Kat's going through this fussy eating/sleeping thing. May be due to stress around the house with the move. And more of that to come...@_@

On a geeky note, I am now completely OS agnostic. I'm running Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista RC2, Ubuntu 6.0.6.1/6.10 and now as a result of scoring a cheap Apple iBook G3 900 HMz machine from Grays Online (Cheaper than the silly reserves people expect for this spec machine on TradeMe), I'm running Mac OS 10.2.8. Hope to run 10.4.7 when I get to Wellington (No WPA for the Airport card under Jaguar). The Mac OS skills may come in handy in the new role.

So here's one for the iBook:

LIFE - Is it Sunday yet?

Season 3 of BSG has started!!! :-) Screens on Fridays in the US, and torrents start floating around shortly after that. Life now consists of waiting till episodes are available on Sundays. *sigh*. It's good though...:-)

FUCK YOU!

I was going to address this to the US Senate the the US Administration. But you know what? They were simply elected by the people they represent. Whether or not they are carrying out the wishes of those who elected them, I'm unsure, but if they are not, the voters have allowed this to happen. So this is for you America. FUCK YOU!



For those that don't know, don't care, don't pay attention, don't whatever, the US Sentate has voted in legislation eliminating habeas corpus for "enemy combatants", as defined by the US Administration, and condoning torture, flying in the face of the Geneva Convention. Lord knows, I'm probably an "enemy combatant" for this blog.

If I was living in the United States now (And this is one of many reasons I happily live in New Zealand now), I would be very close to picking up a gun. Maybe I could manage to wait till the elections in November, or even see what happens in 2008. The difference in many cases between a freedom fighter and a terrorist is the label given by those in power who are being attacked by said "terrorists". By your definition of the word, George Walker Bush, you corrupt, power hungry, moronic son of a bitch, George Washington was a terrorist.

GEEK - Additionally...

Trying to mount an SMB or CIFS share on my Windows box so I can play MP3s in amaroK (Which rocks) instead of Totem Movie Player (Which is "okay").. amaroK doesn't like playing files from Nautilus via smb:/, and mount from a terminal or via SMB4K just barfs (And lots of people seem to have the same question, but not a lot of answers). Most common answer seems to be "Use NFS, not SBM". Nice...:-(

Think there was something else, but I can't remember what it is...[Edit] Oh! That's right! Getting Sound Juicer to rip to MP3 (With id3 tag) rather than OGG.

LIFE - What am I up to?

I just wanted to take a second to record what I'm up to at the moment.

I have just finished reading:

The Communist Manifesto

...Before that I read:

The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East

....Currently reading:

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

...Waiting to be read:

Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil

The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

Bill Clinton: My Life

Geeky/techie stuff I'm working on (Why is "geeky" with a "Y" and "techie" is with "IE"? English is a stoopid language.):

* The Linux experiment continues, though I'm using Ubuntu 6.0.6.1 now.
* Getting wireless network with WPA to work under said Linux distro (Grrr!!!)
* Getting hardware 3D acceleration working with said Linux distro (Grrr!)
* Getting Active Directory authentication working with said Linux distro (Yeah right)
* Running Windows XP under VMWare in Ubuntu
* Getting reading to play with Mac OS 10.4 under VMWare in Ubuntu
* Testing MS ISA 2004 on my upgraded server
* Testing MS WSUS 3 Beta 2 on same server (Broken since ISA 2004 install)
* Trying to spend a little more time paying attention to stuff on the Interwebs. I've been away too long.

This is all of course of top of being a dad. Books are allocated time on the bus to and from work (I have no idea how that will work with my plans to cycle to work in future. I guess it won't). And the geeky/techie stuff fits in somwhere between the hours of 1800 and 0300...

LIFE - Cool...

We've received a request through a Flickr user preparing a presentation for the New Zealand Historic Places Trust to use this photo:


20040925f Visiting Otara Market in Auckland

...in a presentation they are giving. Cool...:-)

GEEK - LOL!

Oops.

Oh. And while I'm hear. This can't be real.

LIFE - Famous last words

So we're sitting around chatting while we change Kat. Now I've carried her around without a nappy heaps and she's never peed on me. She did so in the shower once, and in the bath once, but that's different. So we'd been cuddling for a while and Megz has been holding her the most. She passes me Kat and says "Wow. Still dry,", and I'm like "I think she actually makes an effort not to pee on us". As the "...us" left my mouth I suddenly felt this warmth spreading down my lap. I looked down to see a large puddle in my lap. I looked at Kat who had this "Uh oh" look on her face. In the mean time Megz proceeds to ROTFLOL. Oh well.

GEEK - Or should I say nerd

You know you're becoming a sad Linux nerd when you stay up fiddling with Ubuntu trying to get the wireless network working rather than going to be to fiddle with your wife...:-( *sigh*.

Eek. Even worse. I've just answered a couple of questions for n00bs (Like me) on the #ubuntu channel. Now that's scary...@_@

LIFE - Bucklame

Well so much for getting back to blogging more often. It just seems to be the way of things nowadays. Busy, busy, busy I'm considering taking a day or two off work so I can clean my office and workshop at home.

Kate and Sophie from Wellington were in Auckland for a holiday this week, so they came over for tea laet night. Awesome to catch up with them, and just making it all the more obvious that we need to hurry up and get down to Wellington. I'm working on it.

One of the funniest things came up last night though. While the ladies were talking about text messaging, the word "Bucklame" came up when talking about predictive texting when trying to text Auckland (Though if you're texting and you don't txt AK or AKL is beyond me). Kate and Sophie both said they had seen it. So I google "bucklame". And most of the hits (The first being Urban Dictionary) talk about predictive texting for "Auckland". It was the funniest thing, though now that I write this, I think you had to be there at the time.

Things are going well. Just very busy. Got some family phone calls to make today and we're gonna try to head out to a viking exhibit at the museum (Which is funny as Megz was doing the same kind of thing 10 years ago to the day'ish in Norway).

Got - to - get - to - Wellington...

GEEK - GEEK!

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

LIFE - I used to be...

I used to be a paintballer

I used to be a gamer

I used to be a blogger

I used to be a Systems Engineer

I used to be a husband

I used to be...Peter

Now I am only, Daddy.

Friends and family who read my blog have basically presumed I've dropped off the face of the Earth. It's a common thing when I try to catch up with people I haven't spoken to in six months or so to hear them say "Oh. We thought you'd moved to Wellington already". You'd think I'd have said goodbye if I'd done that.

When I watched other people I'd known, having kids and starting their families, it was common to see them 'fade away'. I swore that wouldn't happen to me. I'd keep being me, just with slightly less frequency. More fool me.

That's probably the biggest thing I tell people nowadays, when not saying how wonderful things are now that Kathleen is here with us, is how my life has changed/is over. I can summarise it as: last weekend I was asked to play paintball for Legion at the 5's here in Auckland since they were down a body. I was a little apprehensive for two reasons, the first being financial (The cost of life is increasing and in conjunction with the cash buffer before Kat's birth running out, the impact of a family on a single income is coming home to roost), but additionally not having played for half a year, I didn't want to suck. Back to the summary though. Yeah it was good to play. I had fun, but it wasn't like it used to be (Maybe I should blame the gap for that). But when I got home I had a bath with Kat and we played with the rubber duckies, and the other bath toys she has, and I had a blast. That is my life now. I am Daddy. The classic one has been at work on a few occasions when I've said:

"Stupid Daddy made a typo in the login script"

...or

"Daddy's just going out for lunch for a bit"

...*sigh*. For all of that though, I do get out of the house each day to head in to the office, and interact with other adult human beings. I have no idea how Margaret copes. Admittedly she is getting out of the house more now with Kat, whether it's coffee group, shopping, lunch with Daddy, heading down to Wellington for a visit, or some other errand, but still.

Additionally I can't complain as I've been out to see a few movies recently. Disappointed with Superman Returns, which I went to see when I was scheduled to see A Scanner Darkly at the Telecom Film Festival here in Auckland, only to bowl up to the Civic where other Film Fest flicks were on, to wonder "Where the Embassy Theatre is in Auckland?". I then realised I'd actually purchased a ticket for the festival in Wellington. Nice.

The festival film I did manage to see before that was An Inconvenient Truth. I have for years been a 'greenie'. It is now official since I joined the New Zealand Green Party a while back. This movie will be everyone's Christmas present from me, so beware. And from here the rest of my blog will take a political bent.

On the environment. I find myself saying "I believe that climate change is happening, and I find it likely that humankind is responsible". The hard thing about saying the sentence that way is the words "I believe". I find myself rolling my eyes at people who say:

"I support Israel in whatever it does because I BELIEVE the Bible says the land is theirs".

...I can't say "I know climate change is happening". I'm not a climatologist, and the variables involved with measuring climate change are very complicated. What I can say is this. IF climate change is happening, and IF we are responsible, shouldn't we do something about it? The doing something about it largely involves waste. Waste in the form of wasted energy and wasted bi-products. It makes sense that those who oppose doing anything about climate change are those in power for whom doing something costs money. Investing in anything new takes money away from profit. And profit seems to be the be all and end all of capitalism (Here he starts on his rant and half the audience goes "You bloody Commie!". Well, not half the audience, because friends and family are likely to agree or sympathise with most of what I have to say anyway).

So back to the doing something about it. What does one do about it? I do the following (Fundamentally based on Reduce - Reuse - Recycle):

* I have for years used public transport. The great thing is, I get to read a book or watch a movie on my laptop while people pull out their hair stuck in traffic. To parents who drive kids to school who are capable of walking or catching a bus, I say (And I'm going to be emotive here), FUCK YOU. Not only do you clog up our roads unnecessarily, but your car is polluting for a trip you didn't really need to make. There is not some paedophile waiting around every corner to take your kid. The people who really boil my blood though are the ones who say "Public transport is below me", i.e. it's for you plebs and royalty like me can drive cars. I'll talk more about these people later.

* Consume less. I look around me, and I see so many people buy things for the sake of buying things. I honestly and wholeheartedly believe that material possessions do not make you happy. This has been a hard lesson to learn because sure, I want stuff. I want the cool toys, and the gadgets, and this and that. Maybe it's just because I'm getting older or I have a lot of the stuff I want that I'm saying this. Perhaps the latter part of that sentence is because of the former. Gen Y'ers and X'ers and whatever comes after than certainly seem to be the drivers of 'want-want-want' at the moment, so I wonder if it is an age thing. Again, you're labeled a 'dirty Commie' if you suggest consuming less, because capitalist business wants you to "Buy more. Buy more now".. Their profits depend on it.

* Energy efficiency. When you're not using something, turn it off. During the last power crisis, Auckland city was pretty dark at night. Office building's lights weren't left on unnecessarily at 0200 in the morning. Now? They're all back on again. What I don't get is why people don't keep doing this. Hey businesses. If you turn lights off at night, it saves you money! When you do use energy, use it efficiently. Energy efficient bulbs, appliances, cars, etc. When we bought the Corolla a couple of years back the priority, obviously after "The car must be able to do what it is needed for, i.e. transporting a family and our 'stuff' where we want to go", came energy efficiency. Anyone complaining about petrol prices, my response is 1) Ha ha! I've been telling you so for ages and 2) Use less of it!

* Recycle - Hopefully you're not buying things you don't need (Within reason, because we always want things. You don't NEED that new CD, but sometimes life will be a little boring if you don't have a new CD to listen to). Hopefully when possible you're reusing things you already own, rather than buying something new when you need it. And lastly, hopefully you're recycling things when you can. Obviously you have to buy things that can be recycled or packaged in things that can be recycled. The number of things packaged in plastics that can't be recycled, i.e. those not marked with a number 1 or 2, piss me off. Admittedly not all products can be packed in these types of plastic. Here is a simple suggestion/example. For the most part, polystyrene is a bad thing. It can't be recycled as far as I am aware, and it doesn't break down and by its very nature it takes up a relatively large amount of room. So when you buy your meat at the supermarket, buy it from the butchery. They will wrap it in plastic and then paper. The plastic takes up less room in the tip and the paper can be recycled.

The largest criticisms against these ideas seems to be based on two things. Ignorance or laziness. How can you criticise me for suggesting you buy less? It will save you money. How can you criticise me for suggesting you recycle more? It means less crap in the rubbish tips. And will save you money since you're now paying directly based on the amount you throw away. I'm afraid the biggest offenders in these regards seem to be Americans. I try not to be Anti-American. But damn it's hard nowadays. I am Anti-'Current US Administration'. I'm sorry but these people are so deep in the pockets of the corporates and lobbyists who paid for their campaigns to get into office, that they have no interest in representing the public interest. Additionally though, so is the opposition. It's called an oligarchy. I hope you like it. I don't.

So this dovetails in to the other 'issue' at the moment. The Middle East. Anyone who thinks "The problems in the Middle East are so far away, it's not my problem", when the price of oil does what it does because of a car bomb in Baghdad, it is your problem. For someone who cares about something other than their back pocket, innocent people are dying. If you see a report of a six month old baby dying in some attack on either side, you look across at your child and imagine it was them. Is it still someone else's problem?

The issues in the Middle East are old and complicated. I try not to over simplify things, but at the root of things the problem seems to boil down to, you either support Israel's right to do anything it wants to defend itself and its right to exist because it is fighting those who oppose its right to exist, or you don't support Israel's right to do whatever it wants to protect itself because in doing 'Anything it wants' innocent people are dying. Again, the issues are complicated. Do me a favour. Reading books on the subject is long and time consuming, but do it if you have time. If you don't have the time, read Wikipedia on say, Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, WWI, WWII....Heck, read all of Wikipedia if you have time.

In certain forums on the Internet I've read a lot of people saying "Go Israel! Kill all the fucking rag heads!". What the fuck?!?!?!? How can someone think like this? I fail to comprehend. Admittedly these are often the same people who call me a dirty Commie if I suggest taking a bus since they are bitching about the price of petrol. Additionally I say this from a point of view of having lead a comfortable, privileged, healthy, happy, educated life.

Asking "why" things happen does not make you a supporter of terrorism. Criticism of US Administration policy does not make you Anti-American (My own growing criticism of general American ignorance and apathy may be). Criticism of Israeli response to the current situation in Israel towards the Palestinians or towards Hezbollah in Lebanon does not make you Anti-Semitic. The only thing I am is anti-moron. I don't mean a differing point of view from mine. I welcome those. I mean a point of view based on someone having an IQ below 25.

In addition to the actions above regarding the environment, I ask you to do the following things:

* Donate blood

* Vote

* Demand that the people you voted for do something other than spending time working on getting elected again.

* Read this book (Please note this can be a hard book to read at times).

* If you can afford it, sponsor a child overseas through something like World Vision.

* When you have a fast Internet connection and 45 minutes spare, watch this movie.

* Get off your arse and do something for the things you support, what ever they may be. Don't just leave it to someone else, because they're leaving it to you.

I haven't actually spent much time in this update talking about me or the family, but I'll do so quickly. Still looking for work in Wellington. It's hard. Anyone who says "Unemployment is making it hard for businesses to find people" or "IT is bouyant" are lying. People aren't hiring from my examination of the market since October last year. And employment agencies are parasites. Megz and Kat are well. They are the jewels of my life and I love them to bits. To see how they are getting on, check out their blogs.

Thanks for reading. Sorry for ranting.