• bestshot: newbie
• bestshot: (busted tv)
• photographers: Life in Harajuku is Never Lost in Translation
• photographers: apartment block

• crabfu steam toys. clanks!!!
• Boing Boing: Amsterdam to vandals: Try to wreck new prototype subway car. Perverse civic pride is a wonderful thing ;)
• Boing Boing: Anachronistic images photoshopping contest
• Boing Boing: Text-based art, ads and sigs from the golden age of BBSes. Kids today, with their fancy-pants images...
• Boing Boing: Watch displays cheeky "approximate time" messages. Awesome. Have already tortured L with the idea that I might get one.
• Boing Boing: How actors remember their lines: To get inside the character, an actor will break a script down into a series of logically connected 'beats' or intentions. Good actors don't think about their lines, but feel their character's intention in reaction to what the other actors do, causing their lines to come spontaneously and naturally. Fascinating stuff. Having had to learn lines myself, this makes sense. A well-written scene which you understand is much easier to remember.
• Body Piercing And Tattoos | Bad-ass Brass Knuckle Implants. Holy fucking shit. A girl got brass knuckles implanted under the skin of her chest. That's... well, I think I'm mostly bothered by how someone comes up with that idea in the first place! :)
• Make your own industrial warning sign. Too much fun. I claim this one: Failure to dress up.... This one is not mine, but made me laugh my arse off: Bad.... This one is awesome too: Warning.... Hours of fun. Plus, it seems you can then get your sign made up for real!

Steam tug SS Forceful, at the Queensland Maritime Museum. To the best of my knowledge, she still steams regularly.

Labels: photo

• bestshot: Messing around in my kitchen sink....
• bestshot: Gothic wallflowers
• cityscapes: New York City subway
• abandonedplaces: ConAgra plant -- Minneapolis, Minnesota

Someone claimed some instructions were incomplete, our frontline staff made the mistake of taking their word for it. I took their word for it as well, only to discover that the extra details are in the documentation and have been for a couple of years (since I wrote it). I let our staff know, and get this reply...

so what your telling me, was that she just wasted my time, because she couldnt read the whole document.

then i wasted your time by not reading it either.

great !

Sometimes you have to laugh, because crying at work gets funny looks ;)

Ahh well. I'm on a project now anyway, so I shouldn't see this sort of thing any more. On the flip side, the project office smells like rotting carpet. Balance is maintained.

• ThinkGeek :: Abusive Stamps: I'd buy the stamp This is F**KING URGENT... but sooner or later, at work, I'd use it. Then, well, I might not be working.
• Ananova - In goth we trust... : A goth vicar is running services at his church featuring music from the likes of the Sisters of Mercy instead of hymns. Religion evolving with its congregation? Never...
• Flying car captured on Google Earth | The Register . hehehe.
• Howard claims victory in national culture wars - National - theage.com.au. Didn't realise it was a war, myself. I just thought we were a very young nation with an extremely diverse population and a shitty habit of cultural self-segregation. Howard just wants to be able to keep using 'un-Australian' as an insult I guess. Can't do that if the populace is aware of the lack of a coherent view of what 'Australian' means.
• The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion: When the Anti-Choice Choose: [W]hat does an anti-choice woman do when she experiences an unwanted pregnancy herself? Often, she will grin and bear it, so to speak, but frequently, she opts for the solution she would deny to other women -- abortion.
• Elevator "close door" buttons. Do they work? Do they do anything at all? On another note, could we rig pedestrian crossing buttons to explode if people stand there banging on them for three minutes straight?

Today I slept in, made some average coffee on our new espresso machine*, stuffed around with an iPod and watched a bit of tv. I didn't get shot at, power remained on the whole time (and hence our aircon stayed on) and my comfortable life wasn't disturbed.

Yep, despite the best efforts of our nation's leader, this is still a pretty fucking good place to live.

I don't care if you ate lamb or not (it's not a tradition; it's an advertising campaign, people...) but I hope you spared a thought for the reason we had a day off.

Cheers, all.

* Average coffee? Yeah, I'm gritting my teeth and admitting I wasn't born with the skill to create perfect coffee ;)

If memory serves, I took this the day after the Covenant gig. It was the first time I'd ever flown interstate just to see a band; first time I'd been to Sydney since Australia Day 1988. In fact, the first time L and I had really travelled anywhere together.

I remember dinner at Betty's Soup Kitchen, getting half lost on the way to the gig, crashing into horrible fatigue and only making it through the night on the sheer joy of the gig. I remember chatting through the lift home that night (via the Anzac Bridge) courtesy of the ever-wonderful rocksluts.

I remember the Harbour Bridge really making its impression on me the next day, amazing me that it really doesn't look like the postcards (although the Opera House really does). Took scores of average photos, a few good ones. We'd bought our cameras just days before the trip, deciding we'd be damned if we flew interstate and didn't have digital cameras :)

So, anyway, it's another photo of Sydney... :)

Also posted at lj:bestshot and lj:photographers.

Labels: photo

• West Wing dumped - TV & Radio - Entertainment - smh.com.au. No surprise, but still... crap.
• Doom Maps - Ian-Albert.com. Doom maps, rendered into oblique view JPGs. Cool! Also other classic games.
• Boing Boing: Business-card converts to set of lockpicks. Cool business card :)
• Boing Boing: Disney swaps stock for Pixar; Jobs is largest Disney stockholder. Actually, Disney trying to to swap stock; deal is not done. If I were Pixar I'd want cash, not shares. Otherwise, no deal.
• Boing Boing: Peeling bananas from the other end is easier. Apparently monkeys are better at eating bananas than humans. Whodathunkit.
• Boing Boing: Cozy blanket with sleeves: the Slanket. Makes a kind of sense.

ANNUAL NEOLOGISM CONTEST

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. The winners are:

1. Coffee (n.) the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.) appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. Abdicate (v.) to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.) to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.) impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.) describes a condition in which you absent-mindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.) to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.) olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.) a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.) a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.) the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n) a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.) a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.) (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.) an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

• inside_things: Samsung Rocas 200 APS Camera
• bestshot: Photographer of the Week
• photographers: I recently went on a trip to the Salton
• urban_decay: Bird's Eye Meat/Food processing factory, Indianapolis, IN (for the "not an exit" sign)
• photographers: http://www.ljplus.ru/img/l/e/lebedeff/IM

• Technology News Article | Reuters.co.uk: Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. said on Thursday it would withdraw from the camera and color film businesses, marking the end to one of the best known brands in the photography world. As part of the surprise move, Konica Minolta said it would sell a portion of its digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera assets to Sony Corp. for an undisclosed sum and cease production of compact cameras by March. That's a bit of a surprise, I thought they'd have made a comeback with their image stabilisation technology. Although, I wonder if we might see that appear in Sony cameras? Hmmmmm >:)
• boing, baby, boing
  • Boing Boing: Kids' views on scientists. They most immediately think of stereotypical Mad Scientists, but not real people.
  • Boing Boing: No mobile phone tumors: The study did find an association between the location of a tumour and side of the head that patients said they most often used to make calls. But when the team considered handedness ? which correlates to the side of the head to which cellphones are most commonly held ? there was no link. In light of the overall study results the researchers believe the association was an anomaly ? they suggest these patients most probably misremembered their cellphone usage, in an effort to explain the tumour.
  • Boing Boing: Honda commercial with human sound effects chorus. Honda's ad creatives really are good. I wonder if it's actually shifting units, though.
  • Boing Boing: Student project: Mood-phone for Asperger's patients: The technology would allow for a cellphone to light up in a bunch of different colors depending on what's being said. The warm red to cool blues would then let the user figure out the mood and inflection coming from whomever is speaking, depending on the words and phrases.
  • Boing Boing: Fake ad photoshopping contest
  • Boing Boing: Cute Chinese Internet cop warns users that they are under total and constant surveillance. Friendly fascism: it's like Microsoft Clippy, except it's saying "It looks like you thought you had some civil rights, how would you like to be corrected?"
  • Boing Boing: Stainless steel stillettoes. Possibly not so popular in cold climates ;)
  • Boing Boing: Beastie Boys give cams to fans, who film concert: "Awesome!": The complete title of the Beastie Boys' forthcoming concert flick is in fact, Awesome! I Fuckin' Shot That!,' but the New York Times is too polite for such language. The Beasties do some great stuff...
  • Boing Boing: New Firefox "feature" eases spying on users: A new proposed feautre in Firefox/Mozilla automates a common web-linking technique in a way that raises grave concerns about user-privacy. To say nothing of the fact they're now making up their own standards, like Microsoft. Welcome to the new browser wars, just as fucking stupid as the first time around.

Sydney night skyline, from the Centrepoint tower. August 2005. From memory the window glass was curved, which increased the barrel distortion. Still a nice looking shot though :)

Also posted at lj:cityscapes.

Labels: photo

Wilson Pickett dead at 64 - Midnight Hour - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au: VETERAN soul singer Wilson Pickett, known for such hits as Mustang Sally and In the Midnight Hour, has died of a heart attack near his home in Virginia. He was 64.

• This is my favourite news item so far this year, I think. Weg makes a mug of a robber - National - theage.com.au: AFTER a burglar broke into caricaturist Bill 'Weg' Green's Heathmont home on Sunday, it took the 82-year-old just seconds to draw his attacker. Fifteen minutes later, patrolling police caught a suspect ? and Mr Green's drawing proved they had the right man.
• Hitman jailed for lack of death | The Register : A man from Kent, England has been jailed for failing to kill a woman despite accepting money to carry out the hit.
• Snappers to defy police ban - Picture This - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au: POLICE directives about what could and could not be photographed were an abuse of power and should be ignored, Liberty Victoria said today.
• Their Levees - Our Levees, compares the levee solutions of different nations. Including America's approach to the New Orleans levee bank.
• Wired News: Bird Plus Plane Equals Snarge: Jet engines must now be able to withstand the ingestion of an 8-pound waterfowl without failing ... And its not just birds. ... "We've had frogs, turtles, snakes. We had a cat once that was struck at some high altitude".

• Discovery Channel :: Video :: MythBusters: Lost Experiments
• Parrot lifts lid on woman's affair - The World - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au: A TALKATIVE parrot was being blamed for the break-up of a couple's relationship after squawking the name of the woman's secret lover, British newspapers reported today.
• League breezes past AFL - Bounce of the ball - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au: A recent survey by sponsorship company Sweeney Sports declared that Aussie Rules had overtaken swimming to become our favourite sport, with 59 per cent of people indicating some link with the pastime last year. However in a highly-unscientific poll conducted exclusively by NEWS.com.au, rugby league has emerged as far and away our most popular sport, with 36 per cent of the total of almost 13,400 votes. Ahh, funny. Even news.com.au has to admit these polls are a pile of shit. About the only real info is this: One clear trend emerged from your feedback - while no one sport dominates, Australians clearly are a nation of heavy-duty sports fans!
• King's Fiery Speech Rarely Heard: ...those who want to hear or use the ["I have a dream"] speech in its entirety must buy a copy sanctioned by the King family, which receives the proceeds. ... When King was killed, his family was left without much money. The family earns income from licensing his image and charging fees for the use of his speeches. (via Boing Boing: King Foundation uses copyright to suppress "I Have a Dream" speech)

• bestshot: (lynx)
• urban_decay: 416 Cotton
• photographers: (train yards)
• happydrunkrd: construction on campus
• cityscapes: Newcastle, UK
• deadmachinery: Now it is truly dead (hard drive platter pr0n)

1. A - Accent: I imagine it's Strine. Not that I notice it myself, nor do I think it's overly broad. Although I tend to follow accents of other people when I talk to them. Probably a terrible habit, not sure where it came from.
2. B - Breakfast Item: Up+Go (breakfast drink thing)
3. C - Chore You Hate: Cleaning the bathroom and toilet.
4. D - Dad's Name: Bruce.
5. E - Essential Everyday Item: I wouldn't get far without glasses.
6. F - Flavour Ice Cream: Rum & raisin and coffee. If I can get two scoops, why choose? :)
7. G - Gold or Silver: Silver.
8. H - Hometown: Brisbane.
9. I - Insomnia: Fucking horrible. I have periodic run-ins with that particular beast.
10. J - Job Title: More or less 'that standards guy'. Formally: Web Standards Developer.
11. K - Kids: Get ye back, spawn of hell.
12. L - Living Arrangements: Live with fiancee in a small unit full of our crap. Would rather live in a larger house where our crap wouldn't look so crammed in :)
13. M - Mum's Birthplace: Same as me.
14. N - Number of Significant Others You've Had: Only one. Well, at one time I would have said two; but in hindsight it wasn't really a relationship.
15. O - Overnight Hospital Stays: One.
16. P - Phobias: Boring to talk about.
17. Q - Queer: Garbage, 1995. Good song.
18. R - Religious Affiliation: Web Standards? NRL? Subaru?
19. S - Siblings: Two, older brother and sister.
20. T - Time I Wake Up: Eventually.
21. U - Unnatural Hair That's not a nice thing to say.
22. V - Vegetable You Refuse Cauliflower.
23. W - Worst Habit: Saying what I think when I should know better.
24. X - X-rays I've Had: Arm, hand, teeth/head.
25. Y - Yummy: That's a very broad keyword. I'll go with cinnamon confectionary.
26. Z - Zodiac Sign: Libra.

Labels: meme

• Toronto Ghost Signs
• cityscapes: provence of russia. This is one of the best photos I've ever seen posted. Or more accurately, it's one of the ones I like absolutely the most. Wonderful. The photographer was kind enough to email me a high res copy too.
• photographers: (lights and snow)
• bestshot: After the Storm. Borders bookshop goes film noir :)

• BottleOfBlog: Out With The Old Drunk, In With The New: I like to point out that there are only two kinds of grownups in modern American life who show up in public with as many contusions, lacerations, and bruises on their faces on such a regular basis as George W. Bush: 1. Prizefighters; and 2. Falling down drunks.
• Robo-roaches give robot armies new reproductive prowess - Engadget. It's the cockroach version of Jay Kay...
• QDB: Quote #597875. Now that's a real ethics exam...
• Sony showed off Playstation 3s at CES. Well, the shell anyway. Looks good. Looks like it'll be a while before it's ready though. Unless they announce a centralised gaming system, I'm not sure I'm going to get too excited though.
• Quick Vibrating Lockpick - Overview
• H&R Block - Taxes Fast Facts - Medical Expenses Related to Obesity. Tax breaks for weight loss...! Kind of amazing that's in there. It's almost like the government was nice for a second, but that can't be right.
• Science Fiction Weekly Interview | Terry Pratchett: Terry Pratchett on the origins of Discworld, his Order of the British Empire and everything in between
• Bloke finds self on Google Earth | The Register

It's the truth. You know it. Every OS Sucks: Every computer crashes, becuase every OS sucks!. Yes, including MacOS. Yes, inluding Linux. Yes, obviously, including Windows.

Screenshot Comix #23 | This week on 24.

Stuff On My Cat. Includes some that just beg for captions: "Eventually you must sleep. Then, human, you die.". Some are mostly impressive in that the cat didn't move... Stuff On My Cat | Oscar has skillZ with a capital Z.

• photographers: (padlock)
• photographers: Baltic sea in January
• cityscapes: Gifu (Japan), 2006.1.9
• photographers: Ignite
• urban_decay: moscow

Mac Hall Comics | Glory days.

Australian IT - Backlash over blog block (Correspondents in Beijing, JANUARY 09, 2006): MICROSOFT is under fire for blocking a prominent Chinese blogger, joining a growing list of US companies helping Beijing curtail free speech. ... US giant Google has also been accused of censoring its Chinese language search engine, while Cisco Systems and other firms have been accused of helping set up what has come to be known as the 'Great Firewall of China,' one of the world's most advanced systems of censoring information on the internet.

...with a side order of back up your blog! If you don't have direct access to the server, something like HTTrack can at least grab a copy.

Well, boingboing anyway.

• Boing Boing: Duchamp's Fountain attacked with hammer. Be honest. Who hasn't wanted to do that? ;) Hell, Duchamp probably would have loved it.
• Boing Boing: City prosecutor wants to put kid in jail punish kid for refreshing webpages. Amazing how this was originally reported in some news outlets as 'kid hacks website'. It was just a really low-tech DDoS.
• Boing Boing: Deaf geek mods implant-firmware so he can enjoy music again. The wired article is an amazing read. It also includes a nice quote on why people work on such things: I ... asked Loizou why the government would give him a grant to develop software that increases musical appreciation. "Music lifts up people's spirits, helps them forget things," he told me in his mild Greek accent. "The goal is to have the patient live a normal life, not to be deprived of anything."
• Boing Boing: ColdPlay CD DRM -- more information. Stealth DRM.

retrievr - search by sketch. search by colour too, essentially. but it does recognise basic shapes/forms.

• urban_decay: (very weird/creepy barbie doll backyard)
• bestshot: (gasworks)
• bestshot: Laying out chalk and tape for some flame
• bestshot: The International Airport in Helsinki
• urban_decay: ABANDONED HOTEL, MOSCOW

• Solid state DDR drive goes into prototype. Surprised this hasn't turned up sooner, really.
• Insider - Guest Columnist Joss Whedon Eyes the Future of TV: The networks will all be creating exciting, innovative new spin-offs of today's shows. Approximately 67 percent of all television will be CSI-based, including CSI: Des Moines, CSI: New York but a Different Part than Gary Sinise Is In and NCSI: SVU WKRP, which covers every possible gruesome crime with a groovin' '70s beat.
• 2005 officially our hottest year - Top stories - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au. You always *think* it...
• New Nissan concept is gamers dream - Motoring - CARSguide: [N]ot only is it a canvas-topped coupe that converts into an open-top sports car, it can also convert into a full-sized computer game simulator. Apparently Fark posted this with a headline echoing my first thought: 'what could possibly go wrong?' :) I reckon they should build in a ten minute wait between game mode and car mode. "Just sit there and ponder the lack of a real life savegame, boyo..."
• FindMyCover.com Cover Search Engine. A big database of cover art, to enrich your portable music device's display of your soon-to-be-legally ripped music collection. Get in before the RIAA shuts the site down for being far too much like something associated with the enjoyment of music.
• Captain Cook Bridge and Riverside Expressway closures - Queensland Department of Main Roads - they've been postponed. When I was younger I probably would have laughed, these days I just kind of nod and think 'yeah I know what that decision would have taken...'. Guess I'm getting old.
• local6.com - News - Toddler's Talking Elmo Book Asks 'Who Wants To Die?'. Be honest. If you worked in a factory making a talking Elmo book about learning to take a shit, sooner or later you'd fuck around with the recordings too.

Behold! Lethargy.