The Lincoln-Kennedy Connection

Yeah, yeah, I know this is OLD, but I remembered Lincoln-Kennedy thing this last night when I was listening to online talkback Radio in NZ, and some dood was talking about the number "Eleven" in events surrounding 9/11. It is quite interesting.

Anyway, here is the Lincoln-Kennedy thing:

• Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
  
  
• John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
  
  
• Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
  
  
• John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
  
  
• The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.
  
  
• Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
  
  
• Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.
  
  
• Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
  
  
• Both Presidents were shot in the head.
  
  
• Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
  
  
• Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.
  
  
• Both were assassinated by Southerners.
  
  
• Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
  
  
• Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
  
  
• Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
  
  
• John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
  
  
• Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
  
  
• Both assassins were known by their three names.
  
  
• Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
  
  
• Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.'
  
  
• Kennedy was shot in a car called 'Lincoln.'
  
  
• Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
  
  
• Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.
  
  
• Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
  
  
• A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
  
  
• A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in Marilyn Monroe.

In the interests of balance (cos that's the kind of guy EYE yam) here is an 'urban myth buster' about this.

Now check out the Eleven thing then:

http://www.september11news.com/Mysteries2.htm

I normally wouldn't link to this stuff (My Hairy Arse = 11 letters) but I sell my soul today, for all my fans out there in the name of cheap entertainment. Enjoy.

Everyone needs a leather notebook

Isn't it awful when you go shopping for one thing and see something that makes what you thought you needed (read: wanted) seem like crap?

Well, yesterday we finally decided to go and have a look a buying a replacement notebook for our ailing Compaq 1500AP. It has served us well....er actually, not that well, but it has served. From the word go, it's always overheated, randomly crashed, weighs a ton, the battery is dead and isn't really that much to look at either. A few months ago it was sitting on the arm of the couch and I was chasing Jack the dog around and round the couch....or was it him chasing me? I can't remember, but, eventually in all the excitement, someone knocked the 4 year old P.O.S off it's perch. "Ah HAAAAAA!!!!" I yelled at it. "There you go you piece of shit!". I could sense the tears of joy welling up in my eyes as I contemplated setting fire to it.

But it kept going. The screen was ok even. There were a couple of cracks on the lid, and the wireless PC card was smashed, but it still worked fine. Even the wireless did, damn it.

Anyway, the Art Director at Truantville, suggested perhaps it is time we got a new notebook (actually it was me, relentlessly mentioning it, but the "Art Director" sounds better)

So yesterday we ran the gauntlet of Laptop stores at Guang Hua Computer Market in Taipei. In the Pissing Rain.
It seemed that the best machine for what we need was the Asus W6F. Nice. Dual Core CPU, 100 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM, Super DVD Burner, Widescreen...blah, blah, blah. Here is a link to the Asus W6F details.
I say "seemed" and "was" because as we were about to leave the store, the Art Director spotted the S6.
I have to admit, if all things were equal (Namely, er, the PRICE) then I'd like to get that too, but it is almost 50% more than the W6F. But what a work of art....it's a very high-end machine in specification but what people like Art Directors notice is not how high-end it is, but the LEATHER all over it.

I really like design master pieces, and this has to rank right up there as something pretty stunning. I just wanted to stick my nose to it and smell that leather in big deep lung fulls, but the shop was busy. Besides that, the demo had protective plastic on it. Probably just as well.

This link: Asus S6 Leather Collection, 2006 is actually pretty arty itself, nicely done in flash.
Oh shit, I just noticed they do the W6Fp-, which is a leather version of the W6....oh dear.

Asus website

Conspiracy Theories continued....

I told you not to get me started....

Following on from the previous Blog, here is an interesting short video about 9/11.

Conspiracy Theories

No one likes a good Conspiracy Theory more than I do. In fact, it's best you don't get me started cos it's one of those things I can talk about for hours.

Some of the more common conspiracy theories are the JFK Assasination, the Fake Moon Landing, 9-11 , The Da Vinci code, UFOs, The Iraq war etc, etc.

Ever watched "King of the Hill"? Well, the character Dale Gribble
is always obsessed by conspiracy theories. He's hilarious.

Here is a collection of Dale Gribble quotes from wikiquote:

• "I blame the media-blamers."
• "Hank, It's 3AM and someone invades your home. How are you going to shoot him?"
• (watching as Bill is pecked by dale's pet falcon) "Oh, he came home."
• "I killed eight gophers last year and a purebred Tennesse walking horse that was looking at me funny."
• (throws a knife and hits a mannequin) "Get away from my wife or next time I'll aim for the mannequin and hit you."
• "Boil up some Mountain Dew; it's gonna be a long night." ("Dog Dale Afternoon")
• "I know what's wrong with it. It's a Ford. You know what they say Ford stands for don't ya? 'Fix it again, Tony'." ("Chasing Bobby")
• (on the Hills' answering machine) "You don't know who I am, but I know where you live sex ed teacher and you better cut it out if you know what's good for you. Oh and Hank, we changed that tee off time to three o'clock." ("Square Peg")
• "I'm the albino indian, deal with it."
• "If you want to elect me, Dale Gribble, president of the Gun Club, running on the Save-Your-Sorry-Ass platform, say aye."
• (to Joseph) "You're like E.T., except E.T. was a purebred alien with a heart of gold. You're only half-alien and at times can be a tad self-centered." ("Of Mice and Little Green Men")
• "Hank, you were right! The Cubans have my mower!" ("Dog Dale Afternoon")
• "I've taken two oaths in my life: One to the NRA, and the other to Nancy Hicks Gribble, nee Nancy Hicks. I stood in front of God and all my friends, vowing to be an honorable and truthful man. So I'm not gonna lie to you, I have felt a small, insect-like attraction for you. But my wife is the greatest woman there ever was!"
• "... sounds like helicopters, UN helicopters". ("Pilot")
• "That's code for U.N. commissars telling Americans what temperature it's gonna be in our outdoors. I say, let the world warm up! See what Boutros Boutros-By-Golly thinks about that! We'll grow oranges in Alaska!" ("Pilot")
• "So it turns out I'm not the actual Dale Gribble, but a clone of him. The original Dale Gribble is a super-warrior from the year 2087. The second me, i.e. I, was created to help the first me fight the invading Mongol armies." ("The Incredible Hank")
• "Hey, I know what's wrong with your truck. It's your quote-unquote 'pollution control'. I heard on talk radio you don't even need 'em. They're just an egghead government plot." ("Pilot")
• "Open up your eyes, man! They're trying to control global warming! Get it? GLO-BAL!" ("Pilot")
• "Whoa! Hold on, son! I want you to keep an open mind so you can make an informed decision! If you want, you can read a bloated government report on smoking, or go straight to the horse's mouth and get the facts from the tobacco industry." (he reads the aforementioned tobacco industry-funded report on smoking)
• "Wingo!"
• "Wait a minute. Every time I leave, you call John Redcorn. I know what's going on here. Your headaches are a desperate bid for my attention. But what do I do? I pawn you off on some Indian healer so I can have my Dale time at the gun club, or breeding show turtles, or on the Internet investigating unexplained phenomenona. God, I am so selfish!" ("Nancy's Boys")
• "SHI-SHI-SHAAA!"
• "They wanted to see me wet my pants from fear... but they're too late!" ("Dog Dale Afternoon")
• "Guns don't kill people. The government does!"
• "Gentlemen, the crap has literally been scared out of me."
• (after drinking tainted beer) "Step on it, Bill! I don't know which way it's coming out, but it's coming out!" ("Beer and Loathing")
• (after a trampoline falls on his foot) "Aah! This is a sign that we have been playing God with Buckley's trampoline and now God is playing God with us and He's a whole lot better at it. I refuse to touch this porthole to hell!"
• (trying to open a locked door): "This door seems to be equipped with some sort of anti-opening device."
• (after seeing Willie Nelson knocked out): "Check his pockets for cigarettes." ("Hank's Got The Willies")
• (after having a muffin knocked out of his hands) MY MUFFIN!!!?!?!?!?!
• (after exhaling a puff of smoke) My throat's on fire!
• (after Dale tells his Falcon to retrieve him a vole, and it immediately attacks Bill)"...So Bill's a vole."
• (Seeing Hank come in with a food dish) Whatd'ya got under the foil Mr. Party Pooper, some party poop? ("A Firefighting We Will Go")
• "I'm too pretty to go to jail!!!"
• "S'GO!"
• (after Hank telling him to come down from a clock tower before someone gets hurt) "Too late, I killed Shackleford! No...wait, correction, Shackleford wants a pizza. (Dog Dale Afternoon)

I even found Fahrenheit 9/11 pretty interesting, although, what is just as interesting is the amount of people that HAVEN'T watched it because "oh that movie is just a load of shit". Interesting conclusions people make without actually seeing it themselves. I must admit, Michael Moore seems to rub most people the wrong way.

A few Christmases ago, Mrs T bought me a real high quality book of the NASA photographs from some of the apollo missions. Really interesting, I can stare at that stuff for hours, and now that so many people question if the moon landing was actually real, those pics are particularly interesting to look at.
One of the fascinating things about the internet is that people with particular interests in things find it so much easier to research and collaborate with others in pursuit of "The Truth". But, there is so much crap out there also, that we are bombarded with information to the point where basically anything can be proven via sources somewhere on the web.
For example, there are several sites detailing the Fake Moon Landing, such as Cosmicapollo. I was very surprised when I was googling this stuff to find NASA themselves have a fairly decent article on the alleged Hoax also: The Great Moon Hoax

Here is a particularly convincing fake moon landing site.

The most disturbing thing I find with NASA's version of events is the fact that they left 12 perfectly functioning Hassleblad 500EL bodies AND their lenses right up there on the moon. Those things are really expensive, so right there, you've gotta think that no one in their right mind would do that. So I reckon NASA must be full of shit.

Oddly enough, whenever I was researching Conspiracy Theories today using Google, my PC would slow right down......kinda like........I am being watched. Hmmm. Other searches were fine.
(you try Googling "Hasselblad" and then "Hassleblad Moon". Check out the time difference - Maybe it's just me). Hmmm.

Wait, there is a knock at the d

Conspiracy Theory wiki
King of the Hill Official site
King of the Hill fan multi-media site
Full Moon Book
Hassleblad site
Michael Moore's site

That reminds me...

I was waiting to get some photos from the one-who-takes-231-shots-per-day-on-a-sony-T1 , but all she sent me was some old, random shot of herself, which I have to somehow work into the story I guess.

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to be in the same town as the one-who-analyzes-friggen-bathroom-fawcets when I was in vancouver last week. She seemed pretty low key to catch up, but I know, I reckon there was some covert reaction like this when I told her I was in town:Anyway, the one-who-can-hardly-see-over-the- steering-wheel came around in a rental and took me on a tour of a couple of spots. Notably, the Cactus Club on Broadway for Calamari and some sauce that the one-who-would-probably-like-to-be-a-food-critic seemed to rave about. It did taste good actually, kinda yoghurty and garlicy with a dash of something lemony perhaps. Sounded Japanese the name, I really can't recall it. Tartare or something.
Anyway, the one-who-likes-a-bargain apparently noticed that some cocktail smoothie drink was DOUBLE the size on tuesdays (that would explain the auto pilot driving after looking at a calendar). So we each had one of those. Just one, but could have had more I reckon.

After that, the one-who-said-she'd-never-leave-604 drove me to some intersection that divides Vancouver with Burnaby. This is apparently significant. It must be, as the one-who-once-lived-on-the-better-side-of-the-intersection mentioned it twice. Or 3 times.

Anyway, the point of mentioning Burnaby, was that was where we headed, to the dark side to a fine restaurant with a fine name, called Anton's.
It's a damn popular place, even for a tuesday, and there was about an hour long queue outside. It seemed that everyone in the queue was taking photos against the sign to ease the boredom. Check out this fool:* The longer everyone waited, the hungrier everyone got, but lucky for the queue-sters there was a big glass window so it was nice to salivate and comment on the dishes being eaten 15cm away on the other side of the glass. Unlucky to get that table, I commented with jest.

Anyway, once inside we had a bit of fun with the staff when they asked what name the table is under. Just for kicks we said "Anton" - what a hoot, but the frau didn't see the funny side of it. Maybe she thought the name was for real or something. She took us to a special table - the one right by the window. See above *

The food was good. Gi-normous in fact. These fatties next to us had one platter each AND a starter. Good gawd, we couldn't finish one platter between us. The one-who-mustn't-eat-land-creatures-but-sea-creatures-are-ok recommended the.....seafood pasta, which actually tasted pretty good.

I remember seeing a photo somewhere of the one-who-likes-to-pose-in-a-suggestive-manner-with-innate-things outside this famous restaurant, but when I did an image google for Anton's Pasta, I didn't find that, but got a bunch of other pics that I thought I would share randomly through out this blog.

Anyway, some more driving back to the northern most suburb of Taiwan, known as Richmond B.C. and I waved goodbye to what appeared (from behind) to be a driverless car departing. freaky. ha.

Thank you to the one-who-can-eat-more-than-me-but-still-remain-0.5-of-my-weight. It was a flying visit, but glad to know I managed to out-do all those useless, less dedicated people who call themselves fans back in Taiwan.

Anton's Pasta review
Cactus Club site

Dr. Dre - mel

I was lucky enough to visit Vancouver last week for work. It's a really nice place, and it's growing on me.
We switched hotels from the last couple of visits, and the prompt calculations to the nearest pub resulted in "The Flying Beaver" coming up as the best contender.
What a find that was, turned out to be waaaay better than the Foggy Dew, but to be fair, the Dew was about 30 meters away which was nice.
The Flying Beaver is a conversion of a Flying Clubrooms or something like that. There is a dock out the front for the Beavers (yes the planes with floats) to tie up alongside.
I was a nice way to end a day of strenuous work by having a pint of Red Truck Beer (or whatever else the special was) and a nice meal of Halibat or Salmon or ....er....the Big Kahuna Burger, all while watching Flying Beavers land on the river at sunset. Quite habit forming really.

Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't have much time to do anything apart from work while I was there, but this time it was my mission to try to do a tiny bit of shopping. I find clothes (that fit) damn near impossible to find in Taipei, so it's handy to buy those whenever I am in a western country. DVDs are also favorites to hunt out. This time however, the hotel was right across the road from a Rona DIY store, and next to a Costco. On the way to/from the office was another cluster of shops that had a Home Depot and a few other things....so all in all my visits to stores consisted of:
Rona = 3 times.
Home Depot = 2 times.
Costco = 1 time.
The Future Store = 1 time.

5 visits to DIY stores in 5 days. Pretty impressive indeed.

I was thinking about checking out the electrical gadgets at the Future Store, but soon after entering I realised that living in Taiwan likened me to an eskimo going to Jamaica to buy a refrigerator.
DIY shopping was where is was at, so it really became an exercise of what CAN I fit into my check-in luggage.
I had to hold myself back in the end, but what I did leave Vancouver with was a Dremel kit. The new 10.8v 35,000 rpm cordless one. ("Corded performance, Cordless convenience" the box says). I had a "Binford" moment, and decided to get some Dremel accessories (yes they are probably available in Taiwan, but it was nice to be able to read/speak in english) I ended up with the Dremel Workstation, which is a mini drill press thing, fully adjustable for angles & depth....and a Dremel Plunge router. Oh yeah, some router bits too.
I was tempted to buy more, but thought I was getting carried away as it was so left it at that.

Now I have got to find some projects to make use of this stuff - I really could have done with a Dremel when I did the iPod charger project, as it took about an hour just to cut that hole for the rocker switch nicely. I just had a look at the Dremel website. You know you are in North America when they have a Dremel Cordless Pumpkin Carving tool.

So, a good week of therapy for me. It's nice to get away from the craziness of Taiwan now and then and feel like I am 'normal' for a while (but who am I kidding right?)

5 nights. 4 visits to the Flying Beaver, and 1 visit to a place called.....Anton's. :)

Flying Beaver
Red Truck Beer
Rona DIY
Home Depot
Dremel website
Story about a guy who made a boat in his apartment using a Dremel
Anton's Pasta Bar

Living Off the Grid

A few of you know that I am a bit of a nut with an obsessive dream to build a house that generates it's own energy. Some call it self sufficient living, but I don't think that accurately described what I had in mind as most self sufficient people tend to have long hair, are vegans, smoke weed and live in the desert just outside of Tucson Arizona.
I'm too much of a tech addict to ever de-evolutionize (new word?) to that point.

Well, recently while reading some more about this (read: "feeding the obsession") I came across the term "Off the Grid" which I think more accurately describes the direction I'm interested in.
More importantly, I found a site outlining many of the ideas and concepts I have been thinking of.
It's put together by Glen Hunter, who with his partner started building an "Off the Grid" place in 2002. The house is made of straw, which in my opinion is a whole other issue to "off the grid" but after looking at the progress and final results I must admit I think straw houses are pretty interesting too.
The site Glen has put together outlines many many of the issues and details associated with off the grid living, for the point of view of an owner/builder who also has a 'normal' job (i.e. isn't living off the land and building full time)

Anyway, here is the link to the site. The house is in Canada, and you'll see from the pics they experience 'real' winters of -30deg with good dumpings of snow.
The major 'eco' design factor of the house is using the sun to heat a huge mass during the day, and radiating that heat back at night. On Glen's house this is achieved via a wall of windows, and a bare concrete floor. Even in the winter, the sun streams in and does it's thing. Along with this form of heating is underfloor radiant heating, and (just recently!) a very small log burner. Electrical power all comes from Solar and Wind....oh yeah.

They live over 800m from a possible grid power source, are not connected to it, and living a normal life - that's cool.

I found this site pretty inspirational. Often I feel most people don't quite get it when I mention "off the grid" - this is a great example of what I have been talking about.

The Straw House Blog
My page of interesting links for building a house

Make an iPod power pack for $7USD

You may have noticed my earlier post with a link to making your own iPod power pack.I can't help thinking it was pretty complex and while it is small, how long would it charge for?

I thought I would put my money where my mouth is and have a go and making one based on something I thought up myself and as I so willingly suggested to a poster on forumosa.com who was looking for an iPod power pack.

The basic theory was to get a Car accessory -USB adaptor, and rip it to bits, combine it with some batteries and presto, have a power pack to charge an iPod away from any usual power source.

So I went to Guang Hua Computer Market today and picked up some bits. As you will see in the photo, I got carried away with various shaped battery holders and cases, and different switches, just to make sure I had all options covered. Here is a photo of everything that I bought, including a soldering iron (80nt - and that wasn't the cheapest!)












Here is a photo of the bare minimum bits you'd need based on a 12v DC input (8 x 1.5 AAs - but you will see I used a different configuration to this)



The final parts list (that I used) is as follows:

1 x Car Accessory-USB adaptor = 90nt
2 x 8AA battery holders = 40nt
1 x rocker switch = 12nt
16 x AA heavy duty batteries = 79nt
1 x Black plastic project case = 80nt

total price = 301nt (including batteries)
total price = 222nt (unit only) About $7 USD!!


First step was to take the Car Adaptor to bits. A blade screwdriver in the seam and it was in bits.
A small sticker on the adaptor stated:
Input: DC 12V-24V Output: DC 5.0V +- 5% Max: 500mA
Wha,wha....what? This handles 24V input? So, after thinking about this for 2 seconds, I figured 16 AAs would be better than 8. Will last longer. :)
After a bit of jiggling around I found that I had to use the 2 long battery holders instead of the 2 flat ones.
I had bought a new LED so I could have a power indicator, as I presumed the one on the adaptor would be in the wrong position. After some testing, I discovered the adaptor LED was a hi-tech 2 color unit that indicated green for 'ready' (input ok) and red for 'charging'. I desperately wanted to keep this feature, so I carefully bent the LED around so it would sit in a hole beside the USB slot in the case.
Next step was to cut the holes for the USB slot, LED and the rock switch.
I positioned these all at one end, using the space not occupied by the battery holders
I used a drill to make some holes which I finished off with a craft knife and needle file. That took the longest time, about an hour for a decent job.
Then it was just a matter of assembling the switch and USB unit, with attached LED into the case. Due to precision hole making, these were a nice push fit.
Then it was a matter of soldering the wires from the battery holders to each other (+tve to -tve) and one to the USB unit, one to the switch, and one between the switch and the USB unit.
I should mention at this point that some web research outlined that the center pin part of those adaptors is +tve.
I melted a bit of excess plastic with the soldering iron to anchor the other end of the USB unit to the case.

Some tape tidied the only wire-to-wire soldering and it was ready for business. I packed out the battery to case void with some polystyrene wedges to stop it all rattling around.
As you can see, it works a treat and it actually looks quite professional too...
The rest of the Photos show: Before the lid goes on.
With the lid on, charging iPod.Red LED indlicates charging.
The complete unit is a reasonable size, but with 24V on board, I am hoping it would be good for a few charges.

Conclusion:
220nt for a battery pack for any USB charged device is pretty cheap.
A couple of hours to make it, and I am not into electronics (no kidding, I had to even buy an iron).
Well worth the effort I reckon.

If you were a real geek:
You could put in a external DC input, and a charging circuit. Then you could use rechargable batteries which would save money in the long run, but I figure I wont actually use this unit more than a few times a year MAX so I'll just stick with 80nt worth of once-use batteries.

Some things I'd like to know though....
What sort of safety features would be good to put in there (i.e. a fuse)?
How long will 24VDC for 16 x 1.5v AAs provide charge at 5VDC 500mA max?
What about heat?

Disclaimer: I just built this to see if it could be done, I haven't tested it in any way, so if you want to make one, do so bearing this in mind...

Holmes Jnr

My bro-in-law and best friend Marty and his wife Paula had a son last night.

Jordan Alexander Ritchie

Nice shot there Holmes and Holmes Jnr,

- from Holmes in Taiwan.

The Best Guitarist You've Never Heard Of

There's talent in them there hills. I'm not talking about Slash or Brian May, Clapton, SRV, Angus Young or The Chief. They are all show ponies, I am talking about these seemingly Joe Bloggs people that are better than them all.

Meet Rafael Moreira, he's the best guitarist you've never heard of.

Last year I watched every episode of Rockstar: INXS, which is a reality show of sorts created by Mark Burnett, the "Survivor" creator. I think I have cracked his secret formula: Elimination, I mean no one else has noticed that is the secret before have they?

Anyway, Rockstar: INXS was a show where they started with 15 Rocker wannabes who got to perform rock classics and INXS standards, and got eliminated one by one each week until INXS had a new lead singer. (For the record, I guessed JD from the outset, but that's another story)
After watching a few painful seasons of American Idol, I was beginning to think that I was the best undiscovered singer in the world.
I was expecting more of the same for Rockstar, but I was wrong - these contestants were really good.
Rockstar: Supernova is season two of the original, and is a new band formed by Tommy Lee (Most famously known as the self-camera-porn-dood of himself and Pamela Anderson, less famously as the drummer of Motley Crue), Gilby Clarke (GnR guitarist) and Jason Newsted (Bass, Metallica).
I've liked INXS since back in the days when "I send a message" was the first time I heard Michael Hutchence' voice. That was the 80's, and everyone was into 12" EP remixes. One of the most memorable EPs I heard was "Burn for you" which has a heap of distinctive but simple offbeat drumming by Farris.
I was pretty gutted when Michael went. Very talented guy who was always destined to die young I guess (that sounds really morbid, but can you imagine an 'Old' Michael Hutchence?)

So back to Rockstar. There is no doubt about it INXS is, or were, very good at their own genre and in hindsight were pretty innovative at the time. A lot of their songs only sound so normal because we have heard them so much, but in the 80s there was only one INXS sound.
I was a little disappointed when the format of the show relied heavily on the use of a House Band and INXS themselves just played a couple of times, but, I was quietly impressed more by the house band than anything else on that show. They are all really really good, and play all sorts of stuff seemingly with just a few rehearsals. Perfect covers or total rearrangements seem to be a cinch.

If you get the chance, watch this guy Raf on gat. Its been while since I've seen someone so relaxed play so brilliantly.

He's from Brazil of all places too.

Official Rockstar website (Lots of flash design)
Raf's Bio
Raf's own website
INXS.com
Wiki about Michael Hutchence
Official Gibson Les Paul site
...and as a very special treat to my loyal fans:
Google Earth placemarks for the Rockstar Mansion, and something else.

The All Blacks Haka

On Saturday, the mighty All Blacks crushed Australia. But what everyone was talking about was the 'new' haka, Kapa O Pango. For the benefit of those who didn't make it to the game, or those that missed the first half, here are a couple of Haka videos.
First the original, which Adidas did a nice job of overlaying Maori warriors...and second, the new haka. There is something really special about this unique part of NZ culture, which is taken to the world just a few times a year. (It'd be a shame to miss it eh?)
I've gotta tell ya, seeing Tana Umaga screaming like that at the opposition made me proud to be a New Zealander - and an All Blacks supporter....well I mean, who'd want to be the standing there on the field facing that?

Original Haka


Kapa O Pango


Allblacks.com

The myth of 20/20

I always thought 20/20 vision meant 'perfect vision', until I started this LASIK gig.

I got my eyes zapped just over a week ago and the doc said at my 1 week checkup that my vision is now 20/12. So what does that mean, am I now half blind or what?

I would appear not. According to this site the use of the term "20/20" refers to this complex calculation created by some Dutch dood called Snellen (1834-1908)

Someone with 20/20 (visual acuity) is just able to decipher a letter that subtends a visual angle of 5 minutes of arc (written 5') at the eye. (5' of arc is 5/60 of a degree, because there are 60' of arc in 1 degree.) What this means is that if you draw a line from the top of a 20/20 letter to the eye and another line from the bottom of the letter to the eye, the size of the angle at the intersection of these two lines at the eye is 5' of arc. (Also, the individual parts of the letter subtend a visual angle of 1' of arc at the eye.) It does not matter how far away something is from the eye; if it subtends an angle of 5' of arc at the eye, then a person with 20/20 visual acuity will just be able to determine what it is.

The bottom line is, 20/20 is considered to be what a person with "Normal" vision can see at 20ft. (I read a couple of sites that talked about being about to read a 20 size letter at 20 feet, but that sounds like bullshit to me). Everyone is probably familiar with Snellen's Artwork, which is known as "The Snellen Chart"

Trivia snippet:"Only the nine letters C, D, E, F, L, O, P, T, Z are used in the traditional Snellen chart"

Apparently 20/10 is extremely rare, it's almost freakish....so 20/12 is pretty damn good then. What this means is I can see an object that is 50ft away, while someone with 20/20 vision has to be 30ft away.
As you can imagine, 10 days ago I had reasonably thick glasses to correct Myopia (Nearsightedness), so I was expecting (hoping) to get 20/20 out of the LASIK zapping. To get 20/12 is beyond my wildest dreams. I am a lucky bastard, that is what.
Next time you can't quite see something, give me a call.

The most comprehensive thing about Vision Acuity I could find
A "Random Snellon" online eyetest
Buy your own Snellen chart from Amazon(you know you want to)

Traditional Wood Fired Pizza Oven

I think I have mentioned before that not having a garage in Taiwan is driving me crazy....but it's bigger than that. I mean, what do I want a garage for? To build shit, that's what.

Recently my Mum (That's Mom to those from North America) sent me a copy of a fine article out of a NZ magazine called "The Shed". The article is a step-by-step thing on how to build your own Traditional outdoor oven.
I could scan in in for you, but it's just too hard. Instead I found a pretty good site on it.

Here is one that I reckon looks cool:

More pics here

I'd actually forgotten about these things until recently, but when we were travelling around Italy in 2002, these ovens are actually the 'normal' way of cooking pizza, although usually they are built indoors. I found it fascinating to watch the doods making the dough, then turning it into Pizzas for cooking right there in the restaurant.
At the time I was thinking this would be a good addition to Truantville. I like the idea of (wait for it....the Binford idea) making a combo style, that includes a BBQ, or one that is built into a wall of the house and can be used from either inside or outside. I haven't seen that done yet, but I am sure that would be the best way to do it to avoid freezing yer ass off in the winter, or being forced to cook inside while yer mates are outside boozing on the deck in the sun. I reckon it would be great to invite people over and have them cook their own pizza, just the way they like it.

Anyway, I reckon this will be one of the FIRST things to be built on Truantville. Even if it's all there is, it gives food, warmth and a social focus....and let's face it, that's what a good home is all about right?

http://www.traditionaloven.com

Make your own battery powered iPod charger

I have seen 1 or 2 'powerbricks' around. They are basically a big battery pack that allow you to charge up or run another device, like an iPod, Pocket PC, digital camera or whatever in situations where you normally don't have easy access to 110/240v - such as a Camel Caravan in the Sahara or on a long-haul aircraft flight. The problem with these commercially available things is they are freakishly expensive.

Here is a nice DIY version to try:

http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000060073719/

18 Days of Reckless Computing

Here's a short article from a guy that deliberately broke all the rules to see what would happen.

http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/start.html?pg=6

The Digital Detectives

Check out this story about Cyber Sleuthing. Bloody interesting.

I believe the internet has become a double edged sword for pedophiles. Initially, it gave them the ability to freely share their information, but we are seeing more and more that the internet is a place that criminals do not want to be and one by one, justice is being served.

These guys are heros...

Frickin' Laser Beams

Dr. Evil: You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, would you remind me what I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here! What do we have?
Number Two: Sea Bass.
Dr. Evil: [pause] Right.
Number Two: They're mutated sea bass.
Dr. Evil: Are they ill tempered?
Number Two: Absolutely.
Dr. Evil: Oh well, that's a start.

AustinPowers.com

Put another log on the fire

Several years ago I found a program online that contained a database of foods and exercise, and it allowed the accurate tracking of personal nutrition. It was an interesting exercise to do that for a month or so, as it really makes you think about what you are eating.
Yesterday, I did a search and found a 2006 online version called Nutridiary.

I am constantly blown away these days by what is available over the web for free. This online program is no exception. It contains a very respectable database of common foods, each with all the nutritional info. It allows the user to add custom foods (and enter the nutritional info if desired) and to build up meals of common eaten foods. The point being that there is a log feature that allows the user to add food and meals consumed, and track the amount of calories burned thru exercise.
I'm not a nutritional expert (obviously) but it's about as accurate a way of tracking this stuff as I can imagine. The graphs and reports on nutrition, exercise, weight goals etc is easy to use and slick.

A quick free registration, and you're in business.

www.nutridiary.com
Weight loss secrets