Category: Life

Merry Christmas 2002, everyone.
Having survived a Robinson Family Christmas a few weeks back (65 people in da house), we had a quiet one at home – well, as quiet as it can be with a new Playstation 2 in the house. We’re heading off for a few days at Yanchep together beore regrouping for 2003; The Year The Kids Join Forces At Primary School (It’s Charli’s first year at ‘big school’ – she’s going to kindy at the same school as Caleb and Allanah).
Photos and reports soon. (I don’t know how I’ll cope without internet access…!)

Allanah’s latest story, The Fairy’s Dungeon is online. I give it five stars.

Some interesting items to emerge on my radar today…
* Disney and the guys who made the Final Fantasy video games have teamed up to give us yet another reason to have a Playstation 2 in the house…
* Segways – the newfangled personal transporter thingies – are now on pre-order, finally.
* Aardman Anmation is now hiring for workers on the long-awaited Wallace and Gromit film, which starts production next year. Like plasticine?
* Several databases which I developed for Sonshine FM back in 1994 are still working, I discovered. (I’m having trouble keeping alive websites I developed two years ago)

This is just a test of some of the new syndication functions on BONWAG. If you’re reading this…wait for it….
HELLO WORLD

I’m genuinely horrified: I found this list on the internet today, and instead of skipping over it as usual, I had Pause For Thought. Although this is headed ‘You’re an Engineer If…’, I’m scoring more than a few hits on this list (in bold). Could I have had what it takes*?

1. You have a habit of destroying things in order to see how they work.
2. Your IQ number is bigger than your weight.
3. The microphone or visual aids at a meeting don’t work and you rush up to the front to fix it.
4. You can remember 7 computer passwords but not your anniversary.
5. You have memorized the program schedule for the Discovery channel and have seen most of the shows already.
6. You have owned a calculator with no equal key and know what RPN stands for.
7. Your father sat 2 inches in front of your family’s first color TV with a magnifying lens to see how they made the colors, and you grew up thinking that was normal.
8. You know how to take the cover off of your computer, and what size screw driver to use.
9. You can type 70 words a minute but can’t read your own handwriting.
10. People groan at the party when you pick out the music.
11. You can’t remember where you parked your car for the 3rd time this week.
12. You did the sound system for your senior prom.
13. Your checkbook always balances.
14. Your wristwatch has more buttons than a telephone.
15. You have more friends on the Internet than in real life.
16. You thought the real heroes of “Apollo 13” were the mission controllers.
17. You think that when people around you yawn, it’s because they didn’t get enough sleep.
18. You spend more on your home computer than your car.
19. You Know what http:/ stands for.
20. You’ve tried to repair a $5.00 radio.
21. You have a neatly sorted collection of old bolts and nuts in your garage.
22. Your three year old asks why the sky is blue and you try to explain atmospheric absorption theory. Augh! It’s True!
23. Your lap-top computer costs more than your car.
24. Your 4 basic food groups are: 1. Caffeine 2. Fat 3. Sugar 4. Chocolate
25. You’re mad because this list didn’t end on a round number.

Help Me!
* If what it takes involves emptying the contents of fire extinguishers anwhere but actually on a fire, then why yes, sir!

Okay, so there’ve been a few people questioning whether or not all the computers we have at our disposal are making a difference. Fair enough; most of the projects I’ve been involved with have been, well, less than socially constructive. It’s not that they’re useless, its just that big computer installations are usually hidden away behind doors processing funds or mining data or processing orders for other computers.
That’s why it was refreshing to stumble across this story, about the system which some say has helped New York get out of its crimestorm of a few years ago. For once, computers are getting information from the real world, processing it, turning it into information which in turn has an impact on the real world. No 3D graphics, no virtual reality, just a simple idea well executed.
Don’t you wish they were all like that?

I’ve never really believed that a music video absolutely has to reflect what’s going on in the song; weird interpretations have been there since Abba’s days… but the latest offering from Shania Twain is just plain bizarre.
Listen to the song first. I like it. Lots. It’s sort of a typical upbeat ‘Baby Baby’ track which has enough sugar in it to make it interesting.
Then, watch the video with the sound down. Great video; nice visuals – very expensive.
Then watch them together. Huh?
I really don’t understand what went on in the production meetings for this effort, but I think, perhaps, the video was put together long before the music was written, in a completely different part of the country. Either that, or they’ve run out of mid-west barns, hay and salt-flats to shoot feel-good music clips in and they wanted to do something up-to-date.
Boy, these country music types are insecure about their place in popular culture.
I think the premise of the video is that a big alien is trying to ‘catch’ the heroine, but the song is all about how the girl is going to catch a guy. Even the basic premise is flawed.
I’m so annoyed, because I thought the song deserved better. I think I need a lie-down.
I’m gonna write a song about kittens and see whether I get to ride a motorbike in the video, too. That would be cool.

I’ve just found a new toy which I encourage you, strongly , to consider buying me. It’s a cross between a game-boy and a mobile phone and sounds like the sort of thing I’d like. Go on. I’ll be your friend.

If you have a little room on your credit card, you may wish to consider Victoria’s Secret’s suggestion for a holiday gift. At $US10Million, you may wish to read the washing instructions very carefully.
And before anyone comments, I was sent there by a friend. I did not find this by myself. Honestly.

An interesting court case in the US has decided what a lot of people might have thought was obvious; that a website is not a ‘public place’. This means that laws concerning access for the disabled don’t apply: SouthWest airlines don’t have to redesign their site to make it able to be read by technology assising blind people. It’s one of those weird internet-vs.-real world debates which will continue to crop up in the future.