Something
Emporium

Well, it's been and gone. Romeo and Juliet. Held in Holloway's room, seating around 80 a night, standing room only on closing (almost). Pretty cool. More focused on the aesthetic than the dialogue, but yeah.

I was Tybalt (as a girl, no Gender Bending this year!) David was Romeo...couple of other people in it too.

Anyway, this was just to break the news drought.

So I've been working on my arcade machine a lot. I've put a new computer in it, built a new control panel, upgraded joysticks, and just generally increasing awesomeness. I'll post some pics tomorrow. The best thing about the new computer was the onboard lan, which ment that I could chuck it on the network, and download the games straight on - no more floppy disks! The new joysticks are glorious. I set a new high score on Pacman, and even saw the second cutscene! And after a massive 3 night mission, I finally got the new sound hardware working! I can’t wait to show you the new stainless steel look!

Dom: Now all it needs is some of these!

Just thought I might post an update on what I've been reading recently.

Well, first of all, Public Address has been in my RSS feeds for a while now. I'm not usually one to read sites that use the dreaded b word but I can make an exception for good writing, especially in Russell Brown's section. At the moment he's got a bit about Lange up, and if you didn't when I mentioned it a few months back then you should definately check out the Oxford transcript.

He also mentions the 'Great Morality Debate' that's been featured in the Sunday Star Times recently. I've been following this myself. I saw the results published this weekend, showing something like 45% of New Zealanders still consider Homosexuality to be morally wrong. I thought this number to be a little high, and indeed, this link or these points may have had something to do with it. I have to say I'm a little angry that with great fanfare they lament the 'Passing of a man of the people', and yet, just a few pages later, show undoubtedly crooked statistics that seem so completely at odds with what his government achieved.

And so, I too am going to get sentimental and praise and quote Lange; I can't remember the last time I saw so many flags at half-mast:

You have to talk about why things happened the way they did. You can't actually explain my political life except by a series of situations rather than by some carefully constructed, rigidly progressed ascendancy. You could not imagine two more unlike rides to the top as I had and Helen Clark had: hers the principled, extremely hard-working, fearless really persistence in the face of all sorts of adversities and personal assaults. Whereas mine was some sort of divine roulette. Even entering into Parliament was not one of your created, structured planned-for episodes. I mean one minute I was a clapped-out two guinea legal-aid lawyer and the next minute I was in Parliament.

Edit: Those of you who don't want to trudge through the text will be interested in the audio recording of Lange's Oxford speech that's just been posted.

As promised, a photo.

1

I thought I'd share my latest geek obsession with you guys, in the vain hope that someone will understand.

I've got a dynamic IP address, along with most other people in New Zealand. I co-own a website which has a static IP address, along with most other websites in New Zealand. So, what do I do? Well, I piggy back one upon the other, that's what. I'm sure I've touched on this before but it's so much cooler than what anyone else is doing out there that I'm going to elaborate.

I'm running a piece of software called 'DynSite', which allows you to make HTTP GET or POST requests whenever your IP changes. Note that DynSite is 'shareware' - read, useless unless you fork out the cash - but I've been unable to find a good open-source alternative just yet (this should be a totally easy program for someone to put together. It's crazy nobody has). So, the IP changes, DynSite springs into action and sends off an update prod to Something Emporium with the new IP. Something Emporium then stores that IP, and if you make a request for it - in this case, by visiting dom.somethingemporium.com - then it returns an HTTP redirect to that IP.

For those who don't get that last paragraph, here's an analogy: I've lost my friend's mobile phone number. Luckily, my friend recorded the number on an answering machine message on his home phone, something which I can look up in a phone book.

There are loads of places that offer dynamic ip redirection services. This is more of a kindof quick ip lookup that I can use when I'm on the go. I've already been using it to tightVNC to my home computer from work and university. What I particularly like about this system though, apart from that I'm in control (this makes anything better), is that I can use my computer as more than a web server. I've got big plans to underclock my 950mHz machine and run it really quietly, which would let me have a dedicated mail server and a totally awesome subversion system.

Oh, and I'm happy for anyone else to use it - I'll just let you in on the API details - it's super easy. So, send me an email if you want a personal SE subdomain!

I just got out of a lecture. A lecture for a paper that I was convinced would be the biggest waste of time in my career at university. As a part of my Engineering degree, I have to do a paper called Sustainable Engineering. I actually left this enrolling in the paper to the last minute, a week before the semester started, praying that something would happen and I wouldn’t have to take it. But now, I’m convinced that the lecture I just walked out of was the most important lecture that I have ever had.

I’ve always felt inspired watching videos of the space shuttle. There is just something about the way they are doing something new, and something where so much is on the line. Each development in space technology could shape the future of the human race. An innovation in space travel could change so much. The more we know about space, the more we know about our planet. And more and more I realise, knowing how our planet works could be the difference between survival or extinction of the human race.

My first reaction to this paper was depression. We were faced with the facts that our way of life, and in fact, everything that drives us to further education – dreams of a good job that provides enough disposable income to support a standard of living – won’t matter in, at the most, 20 years. The massive consumption of the human race, especially western society, are – whether we like it or not – destroying the planet faster than we can fix it. If we are even bothering to try.

This is a hard thing to come to terms with, and this paper didn’t introduce it in an easy way. But this lecture was different. I’m not sure if it’s me that has changed, or the lecture delivery style. I’m beginning to suspect that my views have changed more than the way the information is presented.

The thing I always liked about watching space exploration was that the people were heroes. It’s the same thing I like watching movies about as well. At the end, I’m always inspired, but a little bit envious. I wished, with all my heart, that I would be in a situation where I could be a hero. Where I could make a difference, conquer overwhelming odds, and of course, get the girl. This lecture pretty much made my dreams reality.

Even if we cease all carbon dioxide emissions right now, we are only delaying the inevitable. The climate change has started, and the only way to stop it is to actually decrease the levels of carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gasses in the atmosphere. Here is the one that shocked me: Even if we stop all carbon dioxide emissions, right now, the predicted start of rapid climate change does not move out of my lifespan.

This is my chance. Now I can be a hero. In my lifetime, there will be a massive event that will affect the future of all life on Earth. Whether it is the a rapid climate change, or running out of oil, or running out of usable water, at least one of these crises will happen. Now, instead of being depressed by the state of the planet, I’m inspired to do my best. Every single thing that a person learns could lead to an innovation that changes the future of life as we know it. Now I have to study for my thermofluids test, it could change the world.

Dom:
Engineering Man: "Now I can be a hero"

I'm not completely sure what this is, but if it works the way I think it does then it's veery interesting. Go push our price up!
And while I'm at it: 1) Ha, 2) Haha

And if I can just sneak in with one final edit, I have to say that I'm loving this tax calculator - finally, a fair assessment of what tax cuts mean.

Justin:

If you're up to date you'll have heard the rumours already: apparently Google is launching an IM service. It's just been Slashdotted that it's already up and running - all you need is a Jabber capable client, such as GAIM for Windows. It uses your Gmail account details.

I'm checking it out now - I let you know how it goes.

Update: Oh, look! talk.google.com. Looks like they've gone for a Skype-type VoIP IM thingee. Very interesting. Personally, because I'm not using the VoIP stuff and I want to keep my MSN contacts, I'll still be using GAIM. Jabber, as a protocol, can offer 'gateways' to other services though, so they may at some point provide access to MSN as a whole through Google talk - from their about page:

We believe strongly in user choice and open standards, and we are committed to letting users access Google Talk using the client and platform of their choice, as well as to enabling our users to talk with users from other service providers.

Also:

Today, with instant communications, you can't talk to your contacts or buddies in one service while using another service. We hope to change that. We want to work with other willing service providers to enable their users to communicate directly with Google Talk users. And while we hope many people will use and like the Google Talk client, we're committed to making it as easy as possible for you to communicate with your friends using the client that you want--even if it doesn't happen to be ours. That's why we're also supporting open standards and the same protocol that clients such as Trillian, GAIM and iChat do.

Sounds good. Even if it does kinda break point number 2 which currently still reads "Google does search. Google does not do horoscopes, financial advice or chat." Heh.

By the way: 婊子

Honestly. Please tell me people, where did the youth of today go so wrong?

Why has it become so fashionable to speak in text language, or god forbid speaking like a
gangster? I just don't understand it.

And sure, some people claim that frequent spelling mistakes (due to "text language") on the internet is a quicker way of typing what ever gangster speak they wish to portray to whoever wants to read it, but why can't they just learn to type properly? Spelling aside, I don't mind a few mistakes here and there, bt y du u hav 2 tlk lik dis 2 b undastod proply? I mean honestly.

I'm so disalusioned that I am growing up in the generation that I am.

All student teachers will have to prove they can pronounce Maori in order to graduate, under Labour's Maori policy launched yesterday.

The proposal to "ensure all teachers demonstrate competency in reo-a-waha enunciation and pronunciation" is among the policy proposals put forward by Prime Minster Helen Clark and Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia in Hamilton.

Mr Horomia said it was important teachers set an example for the country's children, one in four of whom were Maori.

"Maori is an official language of this country but many people don't make an effort to pronounce Maori correctly. Teachers teach our kids a lot of things, from Shakespeare to poetry - what is the difference in teaching how to pronounce people's names and Maori correctly?"

Source, 27.08.05

So when are they going to legislate against god-awful provincial New Zealand accents? Last time I checked, English is an official language of New Zealand, but there are heaps of awful examples of people not pronouncing it properly.

(I support this proposal by the way: I'm of the opinion that all kids should learn Te Reo for 1-2 years at intermediate... though one obvious drawback to that opinion is the current lack of teachers who can teach Maori, though that can be scholarship-erised.)

With a bit of fussing around with 4GB .tar.gz files, I was able to get MacOSx86 running today. Triple-boot here I come.

• Mountain Dew contains 55mg of caffeine per 12oz soft drink can, or 0.1549gL⁻¹.
• Instant coffee contains 65-100mg of caffeine (high variability) per 7oz cup, or 0.3139–0.4830gL⁻¹.
• LD₅₀ (not 'L.D. 50' – bloody Mudvayne) is a the dosage of a substance that causes death in 50% of a population.
• For oral ingestion, the LD₅₀ of caffeine is about 1.5×10⁻⁴g for each gram of body weight.
• I weigh 7.58×10⁴g.

Therefore, we can conclude that on average it would take

• 11.37 grams of caffeine (intravenously, as little as 3.2 grams)
• or 73.4 litres of Mountain Dew
• or 23.5–36.2 litres of coffee
• or 48.9 1.5L bottles of Mountain Dew
• or 114–175 cups of coffee

to kill me.

Well, here is another comic.  It just so happens to be the 80th comic!  Hope you enjoy it.

I'm on an intra-semester break now, so I've got 2 weeks of putting of assignments.  I have qutie a bit more work than I first thought, although I'm sure I'll fit in a lot of quality time for doing nothing.  There is nothing in the world like doing nothing, it's wonderful.

I'll see if I can do another comic for you before my holidays run out.

I've always been a fan of the BOFH stories, but it wasn't until today that I realised they were created by a New Zealander - Simon Travaglia, of Waikato University. If I were at Waikato I would be shit scared of going anywhere near any op, regardless of the fact that Simon's an Infrastructure Manager and the days of shell access are long gone.

My favourite is 'Ye Bastarde Operatore frome Helle, A Tragedie in two Actes'. It helps if you've read Macbeth and know who Louise Brown is, of course.

In other news, Facebook is the new sms.ac. The first one of you to send me an invitation will invite ruin.