Happy Tree Friends

This is so wrong and broken, and wrong and broken that it is hillarious! Check it out!! Wrong and Broken

World Wide Web (of Shit)

Sitting here pondering my own existence, and debating with myself my own pro-dustbunny stance, I turn to the web in search of something even relatively close to "interesting". No such luck. I cant remember the last time browsing the web was even close to mediocre, let alone stimulating or exciting.



Its true, the web has become the crappile of the century. Porn,illegal music downloads, porn, moronic lusers who have found out how to post to forums, porn, porn popups, popups, popups. Did I mention porn?



Stuff it. The web is overrated. Im going back to ye-old-faithful TV, or maybe the xbox... Yes..xbox..or beer. Or Beer and Xbox. Looks like my evening is planned!

uPaq / iPaq

Awhile ago I went to Singapore, and purchased a whizzbang iPaq ..... YUMMY!! For no reason other than I HAD TO HAVE ONE, had no idea what it did, what it could do .... but I was convinced I could make use of it! And I have. LOVE IT!

Jump forward to the beginning of February, and me, having continually updated my contacts list in my iPaq, decided I should "sync" it with my e-mail account (as I usually do). Hmmmmmmm, having issues, ......... tech-head friends give me NEW version of sync software ........ sync, sync, sync.

Off I go on a work sponsored trip to the City of Churches .... open the beloved iPaq to search for a number - NOTHING! NADA! ZIP! ZERO!

Tears, stamping of feet, throwing myself on the floor and screaming - to no avail. Still on contacts on the iPaq. They are not in the e-mail system, back up - HA! What? Now nothing works - the software has gone belly up!

Fast forward to TODAY - other faithful tech-head friend gives me some advice - uninstall NEW dodgy software, re-install OLD, working software, and take a chance.

SIGH - OK..... and ..... what is this ........ syncing, syncing ...... TA DA. It worked, and for the finale ........ my Contacts list re-appeared ... Don't know how, or why - and don't care ..... NOW, about that Back up option ....

This is a test Using Hello and Picasa2 From Google to post images directly from Picasa to my blog! Nifty STuff!! What is that photo? First person to guess gets a gold star!!  

TarpMan

It is true, I have become... a SuperhEro! My name is Tarpman? Why.. Well read on..



For those that know me, you would also know that I am somewhat fanatical about my car. Going within a 1metre radius of my car without permission and expect deadly force response in nanoseconds. At my new crapshack however i only have a carport. Thats right, no garage for me! So whats the Solution..Tarps!!



Now before you dimiss me as an absolute nutter, or some sort of suburbs hobo, keep reading. My delema was a complex one. How do I get all the benefits of a garage from a carport (within the confines of Rental Agreements of course -ie. no construction/holes etc).



Step 1 - Source Materials!



Trip to bunnings and I had myself some 100% waterproof quasi shadecloth (acrylic) a couple of metal channels that "supposedly" attach shadecloth and withstand gale force winds. But how to attach it? Well thats simple. I constructed a bunch of clamps - two bits of wood (one either side of the post) with bolts between them! - Channels bolt to clamps! genius!!!



Now this is fine for the sides that never open.. but the front and rear? Two mofo heavy duty tarps!!



Step 2 - Construction



After putting all this crap together I had a bit of an issue. Even with the shadecloth stretched out - there was some lateral movement (top and bottom) as the span was 3 metres!! Solution - Shadecloth attachments that snap on to Wire/Rope and a few bits of rope top and bottom!! Sorted!!



The result? I now have a fully enclosed carpport. There is some manual efort required to "deploy" the front tarp but its all good! And as the absolutely huge/dangerous storm two days ago in Sydney Proved - this shit is built solid! All tarps are still in place! No ripping, Nothing!! Whereas my back Metal shed had its door ripped off!!!!



in the future i may develop a commerically viable business just selling conversion kits for carports.. Why the Hell not?

Repetitive Stress Injury

Has anyone else experienced the extreme discomfort of using an xbox controller for extended periods of time? And im not talking about a 5 minute bash, more like 5 hours++. Both my thumbs look like they have been tenderised by a meat mallet ad nausiem. I was totally engrossed in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (awesome awesome game) and now Im walking around with two thumbs up in the air. Two thumbs up for excellent holiday fun, not.

Car Shitnat Part II

Having just read steveos post (*applause*) I thought Id throw my cowboy hat into the ring. As I currently own the crown of most money poured into a hunk of metal on wheels I thought Id share my in car experiences :)



I went down a different route to steveo and poured (literally) money into a big ass incar stereo. But not just any stereo. Having done some research I settled on a nice little piece of Alpine Kit - with native support for WMA and MP3 Discs. Cool! No more burning CDs to native format. Even supports the winamp wanky scrolling titles (ID3 tags - or inbuilt media info for WMA). Now this is pretty cool!.

But alas there is a problem. I also dumped about 3,000 buckaroos on Bosotn Accoustics Speakers (8 of them!), a couple of hipo Rockford Fosgate Amps (to drive both speakers and subs) and two big pumpin RockFord 12" Subs as well as expensive huge ass guage speaker wire through the entire car.



Problem is - MP3/WMA music - regardless of bitrate cannot match a standard CD for sound quality. To quantify this with some more empirical evidence - my surround sound DTS home theatre at home has the same problem (and thats with a digital/optical out straight to the Digital Reciever!)



Hmmm, so the quality of MP3/WMA sound is inversely proportional to the quality of the speakers/stereo you play it on! BINGO!! Solution? Audio CDs rule the roost. Its a sad fact that in this digital age that an MP3/WMA format cannot match a simple cda quality.



Oh well, if I have to burn shit to cda then I guess I have to :) Ill tell you what, nothing sounds as awesome as cranking a CD on a really good quality system!



Having said that there is rumours that Apple will release in car entertainment systems built on the Ipod. Systems (like mine) can already control ipod functions through the headunit thanks to the Alpine AINet bus which allows communication with other devices such as mobile phones as well (read: you can send/receive SMS on a nokia through AINet). Lets hope that something is done to improve the sound of MP3 based recordings.



End of Rant.

Hand Carved Magazine | Articles: Smurfing Socialists

Smurfing Socialists Im sure has done the rounds quite a bit, but damn Im bored and any opportunity to read about smurfs sounded like fun. I am, after all a Smurf (What? You didnt know?)



Hand Carved Magazine | Articles: Smurfing Socialists

Holidays for Me.. None for You!

Im baaaacckkkk. Thats right, I have taken a few precious moments from my holidays to jump online and post to my blog. Although, so far it hasnt been much of a holiday. Moving tends to knock out most of the benefits of not beeing within a 50km radius of work. But now, snugly located in my new Crib a.k.a Crapshack I am now well and truly into the holiday swing of things.



Kicking back, timtams, beer, chips and pizza. The geek staple diet. All my computer related hardware all setup/unpacked and foxtel digital sitting here just waiting to be put to use.



Im going to be very busy!

Bye Bye Mister Crapshack

Well, its almost that time. Today is my last day in this very honourable crapshack that has been home for the last 12 months. In retrospect I probably wont miss this place too much, and am looking forward to getting the hell out!



Its not a bad crapshack by any means, Im just really over it. Strata management must be licenced agents of Satan, and the presence of the complex nark has only aggrivated the strangehold that strata has over this place.



But enough of that, Im off to finish cleaning this stupid place. Fricken final inspection crap.

Exeunt

Oh well, this will be my last post for at least another month.. Why? Well for starters I am on annual leave and will be kicking back at home. The closest thing I will be doing is firing up my xbox, or continuing my quest to translate aerial photography of alaska into Simcity 4 regions - nothing even remotely close to being online :)



Now some of you may be saying "Hell, you routinely dissapear for months/years on end without posting didly squat!". Well, while totally true I thought a final buh bye post was in order. Want to contact me? Well gee, I feel so lucky. If you know me, call my mobile, if you dont - call a shrink.



I bid thee farewell!!

Paid Promotional Message

Just received an email from a work friend about a book thats hit the stands. Very interesting stuff.





I thought you may be interested in this article on the impact of the Australia-
US FTA on Australia's high-tech industries:



http://www.smh.com.au/news/Technology/Patently-yours/2004/11/25/1101219671693.html



It is based on the book "How to Kill a Country: Australia's Devastating Trade
Deal with the USA" (written by Dr Elizabeth
Thurbon, and her colleagues Professors Linda Weiss and John Mathews).





visit www.australianinterest.com for more on Australian foreign economic policy.

Now this is Sad...

So why am I posting it? THis is the Mofoisms baby! Yeah!! Full of cromulent crappulent crud..

Im Excited!

Ok, and before anyone says it..not in a "big Kev" kinda way! I found the coolest web archive site and have been surfing down memory lane looking at some of the weird and wonder creations over the years.



Heres a sneak peak:



x-y-z-files.ml.org

This site has been around as long as the hills (sounds of plucking banjos in the backgrounds). Used to be one kickass document repository. It died a sad and painful death. One of my very first sites!



www.ic-networks.com

Ahhh yes, good old ic-networks. This is possibly my second oldest site ever. I have that domain for years until i let it gracefully expire this year. At one time or another it was a portal.




parenthesis of Life

Damn i loved this site. It was a knowledge,literary repository where people could enter poems, and other literary sources. Used flat files before databases became popular and it rans for years on end. I still have dreams of reviving this one, and still to this day have heaps of the original material!




MonkeySpank

Another one of my personal favourites! Lots of fun, yet pointless and kindof sad. One day I will revive the monkey who is criogenically frozen orbiting the earth.



Centroid

Another failed web design company (how many is that now.. 3? 4?) Had the absolute coolest animated gif logo ;)~~~




There you have it.. Im a bit sad they didnt archive any of my earlier work.. But hey!! its all good!!!

Classic Sig

Courtesy of Pirate Boy (a.k.a Mattius) I thought it was an absolute crackup!



This email may not have been sent to you but someone else. If you are not that someone else but someone other than them please contact your legal department and ask them who you are. That being the case destroy this message (only after you know who I am) and then forward your own message to whoever I thought the original person was. Remember in most states and territories it is a crime to pretend to be someone you are not.

Desktop Background

May I ask the question - what gives a company the right to place downright ugly Desktop Backgrounds onto your PC?

I work for a company most of you here know. Today, upon login, my desktop background changed to a woman with glowing breasts ... flying through the sky.

Could someone please tell me what that has to do with electricity?

Thanks in advance....

Would you like Cheese with that?

Now just before I start I want to state emphatically that I am not a nutter, and I don't belong in some sort of Dark, Quasi Gothic insane asylum (ala Gothika).



Have you ever thought to yourself.. "Damn I could go some cheese right now". No? Comon!! be Honest. I mean what could be better than a big chunk of Cheddar, or Colby..mmm Colby. As a matter of fact, I could go some now. Cheese goes with everything. There is nothing that cheese cannot do. As a matter of fact, im going to start a Cheese fanclub. Who wants to join?



There are even books on the subject. "Who Stole the Cheese" is apparently a vivid tale about some sort of business/management crap (I think it was the mouse). So whos the nutter now? But wait, theres more. Theres another book called "Who Stole My Cheese" which is an absolute crackup!



Begin paid promotional message: Buy it Now!

OpenBSD 3.6 Release

OpenBSD 3.6 is out and looking fab! Latest additions include SMP Support for i386 and AMD64 (Finally!! W00t w00t) and heaps of other cool bugfixes, further security enhancements etc etc.



For those who have never heard/seen OpenBSD it is designed with Security as the highest priority. One remotely exploitable hole in 9 years aint bad!!! Check it out!



OpenBSD 3.6 Release

Music Overload

Now I'll be the first to admit that I have bought quite a few music CDs in my time (probably waaay too many) - but I have noticed that lately that I have a tendency to overload way too much on a single CD.



How is this possible? Stuffed if I know. I usually end up buying a CD, listening to it ad-nauseum for a few days, then discard it to the ever growing pile of CDs. As time progresses, the mean-time to ad-nauseum seems to be getting shorter. This indeed is a disturbing trend.



I remember the good old days where you would buy an album and listen to it for months on end, never tiring of the awesome guitar riffs, ballads etc. Could it be that in this virtual, manufactured, post-modern universe we exist in, that music has lost its soul? Who knows, or more to the point - does anyone care? After all there is so much _new_ music every single day that we now have the option to chuck it away.



And so on and so forth....

Organising Groups of Ladies (sorry Guys!)

Here is something to test your patience, or mine actually. I am planning a trip to Oaks Day on Thursday - fabulous, dressing up, pretty shoes ... la la la ... and attempting to organise 6 other ladies who also wish to go. First, it was listening to how "they have nothing to wear" - NO, last year's dress WILL NOT DO! Then how we could not possibly PRE PLAN the purchase of tickets to said event. NO, we will stand in the queue on the day for at least an hour and attempt to purchase our tickets.

But first, let's meet for breakfast - NO, we cannot plan that either - I tried, last month to arrange and book . NO! was the cry, let's just wait and see .... and now every single breakfast place is booked out, no champagne for us PRE-Races ... probably lining up at the Golden Arches ..... before herding onto the train to stand in the damn queue ...

Mantra: I will have a nice day; I will have a nice day!