Posts

random stuff

  • Never Ever Land by Infected Mushroom has an awesome intro.
  • Internet connection keeps dropping out. Really shitting me off. It's that bad that ICQ doesn't believe there's a connection. Keep in mind that I can see the Sydney CBD from here and our phone line is still abysmal. Yay Telstra.
  • Went to the annual COFA exhibition tonight. Was surprised how much of the work I liked; and unsurprised how many Standard Art Student Units™ were in attendance - they're so cute the way they think they're the most individual things to walk the earth. At least the average goth knows they're wearing a rather complex uniform ;)
  • ...but seriously, go check out the exhibition if you get a chance. We'll probably go back and take some photos at some stage.
  • Can't help thinking of a friend who probably would have liked it. I don't seem to have any current contact details for her any more. Very bummed out.
  • Parked somewhere for free. No, I'm not telling. Yes it was legal.
  • Killing time the other night I window shopped at the camera store (bad idea). Got a bit excited about the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, before I found out the "up to 0cm macro" requires an adaptor and add-on lense. Still not a bad camera, but if I have to cart around adaptors to take macros ...well, I probably won't. So it's 8cm without the adaptor - so I'm not really any better off on that count. Still, 12x optical zoom, anti-shake, manual control... for about half the price of the SLRs. Macro is kind of a deal breaker though. I really want a cam that I can just pull out and shoot a landscape, then turn around and take a photo of an ant... just like that ;)
  • There are some cool Sonys with anti-shake and super-macro modes, but they don't give you full automatic control. Still feels like a bit of a compromise. I keep ending up back at the Canon PowerShot A630, although it doesn't have anti-shake (I'm a shaky person, which sucks considering I like taking macro...).
  • Who am I kidding, I have no money to spend on cameras anyway. I shouldn't go into camera shops.
  • Web Blast tomorrow. w00t. Free booze. Room fulla web geeks.
  • 8am start the following morning, not w00t.
  • It got all chilly tonight. Sydney weather is nuts. This morning it was hot when I left the unit and cold by the time I left the building. It's all about the wind chill.
  • Thanks to a total fuckup on my part, my business name lapsed. I could swear blind that I paid the registration before leaving Brisbane, but clearly I dreamed it or something because it didn't happen. Got a reminder while broke, finally pulled it out a couple of days ago, only to discover I'd missed the cutoff by two days. So, it's fucked. Will have to go find out if individuals can do the GST thing or not (not that I have any freelance stuff on the go right now anyway). Which means dealing with the ATO, who are still very high on my shit list for the straight-up wrong advice they gave me about paying my HELP debt (that's the new name for HECS, in case you are wondering). Fucking ATO. Fuck fuck fuck.
  • Been trying to write up a post for my other blog. Had several goes at it now and it just isn't coming together. Not sure what's up with that but it does bug me. I'm supposed to be able to write, damnit.
  • Ran out of trance. Put on Faith (The Cure). Sometimes this album feels like a warm cozy blanket, other times it feels cold. Will see.
  • On a more fun note, I've been playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory a fair bit lately; plus there's a Friday Unreal game at work at the moment. Hurrah for gaming fun, even with aging video cards!
  • V festival will include The Pixies. I'd be interested to see them but imagine the festival tickets will sell out in three minutes on Monday, so it's moot anyway. I wonder if they'll play Monkey Gone To Heaven, Debaser and Wave of Mutilation. That'd be cool. Yeah I know I'm just a casual fan, bite me.
  • Last Glass House tonight. They should have skipped the headlines and finished the show with the words "fuck em if they can't take a joke". Fuck you John Howard, fuck you ABC.
  • Very sleepy. I'm not totally sure I'm getting used to daylight savings. I just feel like every day is an hour out of whack.
  • Seriously though, when were we ever desperately short of daylight during summer? Who decided that what we really needed was for the sun to go down sometime in the middle of the night? So anyway, wouldn't it make more sense to do the time shift in winter when it gets dark earlier?
  • On the plus side, finally the bank doesn't live in a different time zone. Although my voicemail is apparently still on Queensland time.

Time for bed. Actually it was time an hour ago.

a good cause

A few readers might be interested in this: the Joe Clark Micropatronage project. The short version goes something like this: lots of people give a really small amount of money to one guy, so that one guy can raise a really large amount of money to do good work.

So I gave a few dollars and whacked a banner on my jokes page (hey it gets more hits than all my other sites put together).

gamer humour

If you've ever been part of a gaming group that likes a laugh at least as much as a game, read this: theglen: 825 things Mr. Welch can no longer do during an RPG. A couple of good 'uns:

  • 48. The elf is restricted to decaf for the rest of the adventure.
  • 49. Not allowed to blow up the Death Star before that snotty farm kid gets his shot.
  • 50. Not allowed to use thermodynamic science to asphyxiate the orcs' cave instead of exploring it first.
  • 55. Before facing the dragon, not allowed to glaze the elf.
  • 56. No matter how well I roll, a squirrel cannot carry a horse and rider at full sprint.
  • 74. My thief's battle cry is not "Run And Live"
  • 122. The paladin's alignment is not Lawful Anal.
  • 126. Dwarves do not count as burrowing animals.
  • 129. Not allowed to name my ship The Antidisestablishmentarianism.
  • 181. I cannot quote Shakespeare in Crinos.
  • 182. No figuring out the plot and killing the actual villain five minutes into the adventure.
  • 216. There is an upper limit to the number of Bozo boostergangers I can get in a Volkswagon.
  • 416. I will not substitute accuracy with enthusiasm.
  • 448. I will not attempt to unionize the brutes.
  • 476. The alignment of 2 years olds is not automatically Neutral Evil.
  • 610. I cannot name my character Dwead Piwate Woberts.
  • 612. Every time a PC takes himself out through his own stupidity does not let me sing the Oompa-Loompa song.

around the traps

Well ok, most of that was snarfed from linkfrenzy. But you get that sometimes :)

dear america, by araquel

From Exit, pursued by a bear. - Letter to America:

Dear America,

I'd like to think I don't ask much from you. Just simple things like "don't blow up the world", "don't make any more Police Academy movies", and "please fire Paris Hilton into the heart of the sun"... Stuff like that. Your track record so far hasn't been great, but you haven't blown up the world (yet), so I figure we're doing okay, on balance.

It's been a couple of years since the last time I asked you to do something a little tricky, and I have to say you let me down badly. In hindsight, though, I admit that perhaps I was a little unclear in my request - it's quite possible that "don't vote for a fricking retard" may have been a bit too non-specific at the time.

But now I'm pretty sure you've figured out the hard way what I meant by that and, while I feel bad asking for the same thing twice, I have to ask you to do that exact same thing again when the handful of you who actually vote go out tomorrow with the warm glow of democracy warming your little hearts.

So this time, please, try not to fuck it up.

Regards,

etc...

He says it so well.

glass house axed

Shit news of the day is that the ABC is now the Government's bitch, evidenced by their decision to axe The Glass House despite high ratings. The news was confirmed on Wil Anderson's blog, not to mention the show itself and the official website.

John Howard was quick to refute claims he pressured the ABC to axe the show. I can only assume that means he got someone else to do it. The hundreds of comments attached to that last link and Wil's blog post suggest I'm not the only one.

On that note, if you are pissed off make sure you tell the ABC.

I think what really pisses me off is the assumptions that a) pulling the piss out of the Government constitutes political bias, and b) The Glass House has to be unbiased anyway. It's a comedy show, not a political analysis program or news bulletin. If the ABC News contained the same content, that'd be an issue. But let's face it The Glass House includes puns, funny photos and dick jokes.

Worse than the axing of a favourite show of mine, this demonstrates ABC management's actual bias - pro-Liberal, pro-Howard. If Johnny says be nice, the ABC will be nice. Don't dare criticise the PM even when the lying weasel deserves it. It's not really about the specific show that has been axed, so much as the ABC's willingness to do it.

Welcome to the latest chapter in Howard's regime - the silencing of the critics.