Beyond the Bling Bling

Life's Been Interesting: Ray Beaumont 1912-2010

2010-01-25T11:32:00.003+10:30

"Poppa! I can count to twenty!"

One of my earliest memories of my grandfather was me proudly showing I could count. He used to offer a little monetary incentive, 50 cents, when I could count higher.

My grandfather, Ray Beaumont, was the person I admired most in this world. A person of such generosity we will probably never know because he didn't flash his money about. Others less generous would have had buildings named after him but he was a true philanthropist, one who kept his generosity almost exclusively private.

Working full time at 80 years old

His work ethic was impeccable and showed itself in his sons and grandchildren including my father and myself. He worked full time until he was 80, then cut back to 3 days a week. He started his last business when he was 50, when many his age were looking at retirement, which now is a national company in Australia turning over more than $100mil per year.

A modest man who could work 120 hours

When his wife was in her last days in Ashford hospital, my father was concerned as he had been there, awake for almost 2 days. My grandfather dismissed the concern with a story about how when he had been working at McLaren Flat, he worked 5 days with no sleep because it had to be done. An impressive feat, which he hadn't bragged about to anyone we know of for more than 50 years.

He was a loving and caring person who would always listen and give wise council to those who asked for it. He didn't play favourites with his children or grandchildren and was universally proud of all of us no matter what we did with our lives.

Generocity for others

Some of my fondest memories are of staying with my "Nana & Poppa" at their house in Novar Gardens, playing in their garden, and nana's tuna morney. They also had built, as one of the many investments my grandfather made, a series of units at Victor Harbour. The project netted them enough to pay for the project and still keep 2. One unit was their holiday home the other was given to almost anyone who wanted to use it. Family, friends, even friends of friends.

My grandfather has had many careers over his life. He has delivered telegrams by bicycle, worked for the YMCA, been a wool-classer, planted and worked in vinyards, been a costing clerk, realestate developer, importer and business owner.

My grandfather, the hoon

Yes, he was a hoon. He owned motorcycles and later moved on to Jaguars. Some classics he has owned include an Ariel 500 and several Jaguar XJS.

I owe much to my grandfather, whether it be directly or as a result of how he brought up my father: Generosity, my love of cars, my business & sales skills, my caring nature, my sense of humour and my caring nature.

I love my grandfather and will miss him deeply.

The Unions Right To Tresspass

2010-01-18T11:48:00.003+10:30

Picture this:

I walk into a business, into the staff only areas, into secure areas, into areas which may be dangerous or contain proprietary, confidential or private information and nobody has any legal right to stop me.

I demand to speak to the CEO, and they have no right to refuse a near immediate appointment.

I walk into the payroll office and begin going thought all employee records, taking copies where ever I want, making notes of who gets paid what.

In almost any western country, I would be thrown out on my ass if I wasn't a member of the police or other authority.

In Australia I could do it if I was a union representative.

Recently I was talking with someone about the Rudd Government's "Fair Work" (their answer to the former Howard Government's Work Choices) and was astounded to find out the above facts.

I was informed that shortly after the legislation was passed, all the warehouses this company ran were forcibly visited by union representatives who:

Forced a stop work
Assembled all staff for a "lecture" on why they should join the union
Talked aggressively to at least one female warehouse worker who in turn lodged an official complaint with the business. (Which can do nothing about it, but is still legally liable)
Forced an immediate meeting with the manager with no appointment

Now, all these workers are paid above award and almost all of them are paid generous performance bonuses which they almost always achieve. They are not mistreated, they are valued and treated more as family than as employees.

To this point, not a single employee of this business has joined the union in response to this gross violation of a business' privacy.

It is implied by the promotional material that a union must give at least 24 hours notice to enter a premises, but this isn't actually the case as Fair Work Australia pretty much exempts all union officials from the requirement.

Another thing that is implied, again by the glossy slick Rudd-esque spin-doctored material, is that the union can only access employee records of union members. No, they can access any and all employee records, YOUR records including pay rates, sick leave, everything.

Now how would you feel if your pay rates were made known to other employees by a union rep? Well, they're allowed to and you have no legal right to stop them.

As bad as Work Choices was made out to be, Fair Work is worse. You now have no privacy from the unions and they can not be held accountable.

Save the planet: Drive a manual!

2008-12-23T11:02:00.009+10:30

For a while now, there has been something bothering me. People are very big on fuel economy and save the planet and ~~global warming~~ climate change.... and yet more and more people are driving cars with Automatic transmission.

Almost without exception, a manual transmission will use between 5% and 25% less fuel than an automatic. "But I can't drive a manual..." Then learn! (except for those who are physically unable to drive a manual)

I spend over an hour driving every workday and in that time I'm confounded by those who drive automatics. Every time you use your brakes, you are wasting the fuel you have used to establish that inertia. Those who drive automatics seem to near-continuously ride their brakes to maintain a constant speed.

In addition, the purpose of brake lights is to indicate a vehicle is slowing to others around them. If you've got these people who drive automatics near continuously riding their brakes, the result is more rear-end accidents because we don't know if they're just maintaining a constant speed or if they are actually slowing down.

And my final point. The Prius. Some of you would know this car is my pet peeve. It claims a milage of 4.4 L/100km but in real world city driving its close to 5.5 L/100km. Lets compare this to a Corolla. Your standard 1.8L manual corolla achieves about 7.5 L/100km and costs AUD$17,000 less than a prius with a similar feature set. Thats a 36% saving in fuel for an 85% additional purchase cost.

As a comparison, my car (1998 Lotus Elise) cost less than a Prius and uses, in real world figures about 9 L/100km. In addition, I don't have the environmental footprint of all the fossil-fuel based plastics used in the Prius' construction, nor the environmental hazard of the Nickle Metal Hydride batteries or the cost of replacing those batteries every 5 years. (with a bonus that it does 0-100km/h in about 5 seconds, handles better than 99.9% of the cars on the road and sounds brilliant)

So instead of a Prius, buy a Corolla, use the $17,000 different to convert your house to be more environmentally friendly and then take a holiday with the change.

Here are some figures.

Assume you drive 20,000km per year in your Corolla or Prius

Car	L/100km	L per year	Fuel $ per year
Prius	5.5	1,100	$ 1,375
Corolla	7.5	1,500	$ 1,875

So, with your $17,000 additional spend, you save $500 per year in fuel costs. Does this make sense to ANYONE?

Oh, and for $3000 more than a Corolla, you can get a VW Golf Turbo Diesel which achieves 5.5 L/100km... hang on... that's not a hybrid... oh, and you can use Biodiesel with the Golf. The VW Polo is even lower, at 5 L/100km.

Vacancy at The LAN House

2008-09-27T17:32:00.002+09:30

My house has a vacancy as of the 12th of October. My good friend Brock has decided to move closer to the city leaving a room available.

House details:

4 bedroom
2 bathroom
Located in Sturt, less than 10 min walk from Westfield marion
Air Conditioning
$150 per week board (plus 1/4 of Power and Gas)
Includes:

ADSL2+ internet (80GB/month with Adam)
Shared central server
3 meals provided per week
Use of the espresso machine
Area in "The LAN Room" for a desk/pc/etc
Use of washer/dryer including washing powder etc
Dishwasher

Let me know if you are interested either via email, phone, SMS, MSN, Facebook or IRC.

19 great years and now she's gone

2008-09-10T09:31:00.004+09:30

My cat Fushia has been a wonderful companion since 1989. I still remember the day we got her. Because of our family's love of cars, Dad, my sister and I were voting for the name Porsche but when it came to the official papers, mum thought we'd decided on a different name.

~ Fushia ~

The sun was warm and we were all excited. At the breeders house, we had a marvelous time playing with the dozen kittens. However, we had already discussed how we would choose. Our order of preference was Lilac, Tortie, Cream, Blue and then Chocolate. The main deciding factor was the kittens behavior. Our little kitten chose us. Fushia was one of the only ones to come to us and play.

Fushia was our first 100% inside cat. Our two previous cats would be inside and outside. We decided for both her safety and that of native wildlife, that she would be restricted inside.

One of the most distinct memories I had was when we were moving house from Eve Road to Federation Court. We were about to put her in her cat carrier but she had escaped and climbed half way up a huge tree in the neighbor's front yard. I rigged up the cat carrier to a rope, climbed the tree, put her in the carrier, and lowered her to the ground. What a sneaky cat!

Our next cat was a tortie Burmese girl named Sheeba. She was wonderful and my parents decided to breed her for a litter so we could witness the cycle of life. Her litter of kittens I think was 4 boys and 3 girls.

The interesting thing we did with our pets was we got both Sheeba and our dog Orson at the same time so they wouldn't fight. Orson knew who was boss... the cat was boss! They got along very well together and that carried over to our next cat, Fushia, and to our next dog, Sebastian.

Fushia was a terribly interesting cat with a unique personality. Early on, she developed this habit of letting out a distinct mew whenever someone sneezed. She even learnt when we were faking to get her to do it.

During my marriage breakdown 2 years ago, she was particularly comforting. For the first few months, she would rarely leave my bed except for the necessities of life. I always found that she knew when I was upset or unhappy and she would come and cheer me up.

The transition from family cat to her being officially my cat came when mum was receiving allergy treatment to desensitise her to certain pollens. We discovered that although the treatment was working, it had the unfortunately side-effect of causing her to become allergic to Fushia.

This was enough to motivate me to do what I could to get my own house as she could no longer be around my mum without making her sick.

18 months ago I bought a house. Due to her insistence that closed doors are a personal insult, I installed a cat door into my bedroom to save my housemates the pain of hours of MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOOOWW.

Since moving to my own house, she has discovered the joys of laptops and the heat they produce through the keyboard.

She also discovered the nice warm UPS that keeps my server running in case of blackouts...

When you have had a constant companion for 19 years, it hurts deeply to lose them. As a memorial to how much joy she has brought me, I have asked my brother in law to bury her in the back yard and plant a fruit tree on top.

Fushia Beaumont
1989 - 2008

I want a smaller monitor...

2008-08-28T12:01:00.003+09:30

For years, I've always been a fan of monitors with a great Dot Pitch. Back when Sony Trinitron screens were "the best" you could get, you'd always find the pictures sharper than on just about any other brand. This was because they had a finer dot pitch.

(Another way of describing dot pitch is how many pixels (dots in groups of red, green and blue) are packed in per centimetre)

I love the resolution of my laptop screen. It is 1920 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high while still only being 17 inches diagonally.

The best dot pitch I've found in a mainstream computer monitor is in a 19 inch screen with a resolution of 1680 by 1050. However, that is still 27% larger dots than my laptop screen. Here is a comparison of my laptop screen to all the common "wide screen" (16:10 ratio) monitors available:

Panel size				Width		Height		Dot Pitch	% bigger dots than laptop
Panel size				cm	pixels	cm	pixels	Dot Pitch	% bigger dots than laptop
17	"	43.18	cm	36.6	1920	22.9	1200	0.0191	0%
19	"	48.26	cm	40.9	1680	25.6	1050	0.0244	22%
15.6	"	39.624	cm	33.6	1366	21	768	0.0246	22%
30	"	76.2	cm	64.6	2560	40.4	1600	0.0252	24%
20.1	"	51.054	cm	43.3	1680	27.1	1050	0.0258	26%
23	"	58.42	cm	49.5	1920	31	1200	0.0258	26%
24	"	60.96	cm	51.7	1920	32.3	1200	0.0269	29%
22	"	55.88	cm	47.4	1680	29.6	1050	0.0282	32%
19	"	48.26	cm	40.9	1440	25.6	900	0.0284	33%
25.5	"	64.77	cm	54.9	1920	34.3	1200	0.0286	33%
28	"	71.12	cm	60.3	1920	37.7	1200	0.0314	39%

I would very much like to be able to get a desktop version (or 3) of my laptop's display, however, I fear the market for such a screen would be far too "nitch" to be populated.

Can One Blog From Bed?

2008-08-27T22:38:00.001+09:30

As the darkness of evening grows colder, I find myself pondering why my cat is just sitting there purring for no apparent reason.

The darkness does not bother me. It is comforting in a way, but I still yearn for sunlight. Why does it seem to be such a paradox to love both opposites of the same world?

Tonight, as many of you would have realized, I am feeling philosophical as I contemplate sleep. I have finished watching "Generation Kill", a mini-series based on a true story of the second war in Iraq.

Much of the series was spent highlighting both the good and bad aspects of the American soldiers. However, in the end, it really highlighted the human cost. Was it the lesser of two evils? Do two wrongs make a right?

I do not know. I do not know.

Posted with LifeCast

SAPOL: unRandom Checks

2008-08-25T08:25:00.005+09:30

Ahh, Saturday Mornings. Don't get to see many of these because I usually prioritise sleep over being awake at this lovely time of the week.

On my way to a mate's birthday breakfast I receive a new experience. Flashing police lights, for the first time in 16 years of driving, I've been pulled over.

I'd always suspected I'd bet pulled over for something but never anticipated it would take so many years for to to occur. I had thought it would have been immediately apparent to me why I was pulled over, however I couldn't think of a single reason at the time.

So the lights start flashing and my first reaction is they want to go past, but then I see they are actually after me.. while stationary... on The Parade at 9:30am on a Saturday morning.

I'm pondering...

Did I exceed the speed limit? No..
Was I driving erratically? No..
Did I change lanes without indicating? No..
Was my car being loud? No..

So, while baffled, I went round the corner, pulled over, turned off the engine and greeted the cops with a friendly smile and a "G'day, how you going?".

What happened next I wouldn't have put money on... they said "at first we thought you were on the phone while driving (I wasn't, plus I have a hands-free) but we couldn't see you through your tint". They proceeded to use some kind of light meter to measure how dark the tint is.

By this point, there was at least 20 people staring at me, my car and the cops.

So they measured the driver's side window and it showed only 13% of light was getting through. Now, at this point I felt like I should start disagreeing with the measurement for it to be that dark, I wouldn't have been able to see out it at night, and I could quite easily.

But I did not attempt to argue. The cops couldn't have seen my side windows prior to pulling me over as they were behind me the entire time, not even in a different lane. So I thought: "They were just pulling me over expecting to pin something on me, if I object, argue, disagree it could get much worse"

So, to ensure I couldn't get in any further trouble, I asked them to test the rear window. I'd hate to get it inspected and find that I'd have to come back again after fixing another window.

The transmission level was only 10%. Now that is suspect. I know this because the rear windscreen tint is less than the sides. Again, the temptation to object, argue etc was rising but I resisted.

As you can see here, the tint on the rear window couldn't possibly be 90%, and they claim the side windows were 87%.

Then the cops told me, I had two choices:

Remove the tint and have the car inspected at a police station within 24 hours
Take the car off the road for up to 3 months and put it through regency for a full inspection

Despite the great anger at the unfairness welling inside me, I graciously accepted the first option, thanked them for their time, shook their hands and drove the remaining 50m into the carpark.

Why am I so angered by this situation?

It wasn't a random check

They decided to pull me over for no valid reason and/or changed their minds after pulling me over. Claiming that my side windows were over-tinted may have been valid, but they couldn't have seen them to make that assessment before pulling me over.

Those I've talked to about it all believe the cops decided to pull me over because I drive a nice car which looks expensive. (But isn't actually an expensive car)

So, they targeted a car that looks nice instead of the huge number of genuinely un-roadworthy cars with broken lights, rust, blowing smoke, missing mirrors or other issues that will affect the car's ability to be safe on the road.
The embarrassment

The car's tinting is exactly as I bought it, and judging by the condition of the tint when I removed it, it was probably on there when it was sold new 9 years ago. If, in fact, the tint was too much, it was unbeknown to me and they could have let me off with a quick informal warning or even a formal warning without having me being the object of amusement for hundreds of people in Norwood during a busy Saturday morning.

Not to mention being forced to endure a huge sticker partly obstructing my vision...
The Cost (Time and Money)

5 minutes late to my mates birthday turned into 25 minutes late.

A 25 minute trip home turned into an hour once I'd gone shopping for the required equipment to remove window tint.

An afternoon which incorporated some chores and relaxation turned into 90 minutes of awkward and tiring manual labor to remove the aforementioned window tint followed by a few hours trying to recover from the stress...
The Stress

Its stressful to be pulled over when you've unwittingly done something wrong. Its even more stressful when you suffer from low blood-sugar and hadn't eaten breakfast due to your reason for travelling incorporating said-breakfast. And its stressful knowing you're working to a clock that if you don't get it done, your car is off the road for up to 3 months.
The Right Thing

I try and do the right thing on the road. I keep my car in good condition, my skills sharp, my concentration focused. I don't talk on my mobile without a hands-free, I don't drive if I've had any alcohol to drink at all.

And by doing the right thing, where have I ended up? A victim of overzealous cops who like to cut down people who they think are tall poppies.

Its wrong for me to paint a picture that most cops are like this, and people will rant and embellish their bad-cop-run-ins. However, the huge number of people who have heard about my situation and chimed in with their own examples of poor behavior by police leads me to believe it is quite widespread.

There are some bloody awesome cops out there. The ones that helped my uncle and aunt when my cousin was murdered last year were unbelievably good. I've heard the ones that work in the rape unit are amazing too. However, by what I've now seen myself and been told by others, there are some bloody awful cops out there too.

In summary:

Did the cops have justification for pulling me over? No.
Did I break the law? Certainly not knowingly and possibly not at all if the measuring device is as inaccurate as it appears.

38 days with an iPhone

2008-08-19T11:32:00.003+09:30

This is not just a follow-up to my previous post, but also a followup to some people who have "reviewed" the iPhone even though they've not used one for more than an hour or two.

Having lived with the device for over a month, it has made me appreciate how good (and bad) Windows Mobile is. My previous phone was an i-mate JasJam, a good Windows Mobile 6-based device with a slide out keyboard which unfortunatly suffered from Microsoft bloat, a slow UI, small memory, poor video support, no standard audio jack and various other issues.

Things I've found better on the iPhone than my JasJam:

Speed: Much faster user interface
Email: Good multiple account support
Screen: Higher resolution, easier to read, zooming support
Web: can actually browse web pages effectively
SSH: A working SSH client!
3D: Yes, it has working 3D games which are lots of fun
Music: The best UI for music on a portable device, good sound quality
Video: Get to watch my pod-casted TV shows (eg: GNW, Media Watch) big, smooth and clear
User Interface: Excellent and easy to use, quick to navigate and get what I need
Size: Much much thinner, lighter and more convenient
GPS & Maps: Awesome to help me find addresses while on foot of when stopped in the car in lieu of a street directory.
App Store: Some crap apps but mostly good and lots of free ones despite the short amount of time since the SDK became available
Standard audio jack: Seems logical, but my last phone didn't have a standard 3.5mm audio jack, you needed to buy and adapter or use the crappy included earbuds

Things I have missed or found were better on my JasJam:

The keyboard: Obviously a physical keyboard will be better but I still find the iPhone's "good enough"
Background applications: It is annoying that I cant leave something running when I switch applications. Hopefully a jailbreak and/or the push notifications will alleviate this in the next couple of months.
Cut/Copy/Paste: Quite annoying to have people email me contact details and then not be able to copy/paste into a contact
Camera: Same picture quality but the lack of a flash and macro function is frustrating.
Battery: I think, overall, it lasts slightly less on the iPhone however I do use it a lot more so its probably a dead-heat.
Bluetooth: Having ONLY a headset/handsfree profile is unacceptable these days and the iPhone should have ALL of them or at least as many as the JasJam did.

Some general comments now...

Quality of App Store Applications
Overall, most programs have exceeded my expectations given the price. In fact, the only ones that were crap, were a couple of the free ones so I'm not out of pocket.

There was a controversy when an application that allowed you to share your net connection was removed from the App Store. Its back now. According to the developer it was pulled due to an inconsistent user interface and was asked by apple to fix, then resubmit.

GPS and Turn-By-Turn Navigation
Prior to the 2.0.1 update, the GPS would take a fair while to lock on from time to time. Now its quick as anything. As far as the criticism aimed at the lack of a turn-by-turn nav system, yes, the SDK terms and conditions prohibit publishing of one but both TomTom and Magellan both have working betas awaiting special approval from Apple. There is talk Apple is delaying it because they are going to have their own but it'll come soon enough. I think they can be forgiven seeing as the v2 hardware has only be out for less than 40 days. :)

No MMS
Last financial year, I sent a total of 10 MMS. None of them were essential and all 10 could have been sent by email in higher resolution with only a slight delay in reception. Losing MMS is no loss to me, especially given the 50c charge per message vs free for email.

Not for everyone
The iPhone is a strange breed of device. It isn't for everyone and anyone who says it is, i will quite happily label an Apple Fanboy. Having said that, it is an excellent device, overcomes a large number of complaints about my last phone and has spurred the development of a huge number of mobile applications, a lot of which are free.

Early days
Many are making critisms comparing the iPhone to Windows Mobile and Symbian as if they were on a level playing field. The original iPhone was closed and only in February were a very small number of 3rd party developers granted access to an SDK that allowed them to begin developing. Given how long it has been a "semi-open" platform, I'm very impressed with how far it has come.

Why I got an iPhone
Yes, I like apple hardware, but my server runs Linux, my desktop at home runs Vista 64bit, my desktop at work runs Vista 32bit, the PCs I manage run XP, the servers at work are Linux, Windows Server 2003 32bit, 64bit and Windows Server 2008. I only own 2 pieces of apple hardware, my laptop and my iPhone. Why am I saying this? Because I'm not a FanBoy. I'm only a fan of good design and good products.

I got an iPhone because it was within the last month of my phone contract ending, meaning for about $60 I could get a new phone and there was nothing on the Windows Mobile side of things that was significantly better than my 2 year old i-mate JasJam. The iPhone was different, had the features I wanted and overcame my most major frustration with the JasJam, the speed.

Do I regret my purchase?
Do I wish I had bought something else? Nope, not at all. Still, the closest thing that would interest me is the HTC Touch Pro which isn't even available in Australia.

Interesting Sights on Google Streetview

2008-08-07T20:45:00.003+09:30

Came across this amusing sight on Google Streetview today.

If Google hasn't "corrected" it yet, you can view the page here.

iPhone - Telstra Data Usage Discrepancy

2008-08-06T12:36:00.002+09:30

After the first couple of days of using my iPhone, I noticed a strange discrepancy between how much data Telstra's online usage meter claimed I'd used verses the built in (and probably more accurate) meter.

Now, I wouldn't care so much if the difference was 10-15% but it has been consistently claiming on the website that I've used twice as much as I had on the iPhone.

Usage as shown on the iPhone:

Usage as shown on Telstra's website:

I have called Telstra about this and they did show some concern but said they wouldn't be able to do anything until I'd received my "official" bill.

I think I know what will happen next. I will get the bill, it'll follow the same trend, I'll call Telstra and they will claim that their metering is more accurate than the iPhone's. Updates on this to follow on or after the 17th of August.

A hazardous lack of confidence

2008-08-05T11:32:00.003+09:30

For a while now, I've been running on an unofficial method of determining if people lack sufficient to be on the road unsupervised and I would like to share this with you.

When waiting behind a car which is having to give way to traffic, for every opportunity an average competent driver could have pulled into traffic without...

..causing an accident
..causing the other vehicles to brake
..aggressively accelerating
..breaking any road rules

... you add a point. Here is the scale of the number of points and how I believe these people are on the road. eg: 1 = they took the first opportunity to pull into traffic.

1. Probably over-confident, possibly a little dangerous, may benefit from a defensive driving course.
2. Optimal
3. A little hesitant, still an acceptable level of confidence
4. Insufficient confidence or lack of concentration
5. Should not be driving. Significant lack of confidence, possible issues judging distance and speed, causes frustration in other drivers.
6. Retraining should be a priority to boost confidence levels. Possible reaction time issues as well.
7. Should have taken a taxi
8. Cause of some people's road rage
9. etc

So why am I writing about this today? Because this morning, I encountered the first person I've seen to score 15. The road was dry, it was overcast but vision was clear, the traffic wasn't heavy, the person wasn't even elderly or an L plater. Just appeared to be a normal middle-aged woman.

Scoring 15, I'm just astounded. Gobsmacked. I do not understand how someone can effectively sit there several times where there was more than 15 seconds of clear road.

Now, I believe that the government is somewhat on the way to improving the driver training, especially with requiring a minimum number of hours behind the wheel however I believe that a defensive driving course should be mandatory for all road users.

What is a defensive driving course?
They teach you how to avoid accidents. How to react when the unexpected occurs. How your car behaves in an emergency situation.

The critics:
I have heard a number of people claim that putting people through a defensive driving course makes them overconfident and dangerous on the road. This is a complete lie. If anything, it teaches people how difficult it can be to avoid an accident and to be more cautious.

Braking:
For cars without ABS, it teaches people how to "threshold brake" so they can come to a stop without losing the ability to steer. For people with ABS, I have heard of people slamming on the brakes hard enough for the ABS to kick in for the first time and the "rumble" they feel startles them so much they instinctively pull their foot off the pedal and crash.

Myself:
I've undertaken a number of driving courses, track days and other driving skill training. The first step I think is a good start is having parents/guardians teach their kids good driving habits such as:

Checking your blind spot before changing lanes
Keeping an adequate distance from the car in front
When stopping in traffic, practice stopping so you can still see where the vehicle in front's rear wheels touch the road (in case you get rear-ended)
Learning to control your speed so you're not taking your eyes off the road frequently to check
Anticipating other vehicles/pedestrians, assuming they will make mistakes, that they will change lanes without looking, that they will pull out from side streets suddenly, that the child standing on the side of the road will suddenly run onto the road for no apparent reason.
Concentration, remembering where other cars are around you without continually looking in your mirrors and blind spots so if you need to avoid an accident, you know where is clear and where there is something you will collide with.
Car maintenance: If your suspension, tire pressure or tire tread are substandard, it will affect your ability to stop and steer.

I count myself lucky I was taught all of the above by my parents. They helped me to become an excellent driver. Some of the other things I have done which have improved my driving habits:

Drive more than 1 car - By becoming used to one car, then if you're suddenly put in another for one reason or another, it could be dangerous if you are not familiar. When you do, before you start moving, familarise yourself with how the controls differ including things such as where the gears are (ie: in a manual, reverse is sometimes in a different spot, or in an auto, it may have a different layout to normal), which side of the wheel the indicators are (European cars are generally on the left, Australian/Japanese on the right)
Gokarts, drive them. It may seem almost counter-intuitive to compare driving a gokart with the safe driving of a car, but they can teach you the skill of being able to take a smoother path through corners, how to "catch" the "car" if you lose control and how to anticipate other "drivers" better.
Approaching a green light: As you are coming up to an intersection with a green light, best technique to minimise the risk of going through on the red and/or the car behind crashing into you, is to decide at what point you are going to stop if the lights change to yellow vs continue. This means your reaction time is faster, you can take longer to come to a stop and the cars behind you have more notice to also stop. As I approach the intersection, at the point where I will continue through the interesection I just say to myself "go" in my head. After that point, if it goes yellow, I will continue through. If it goes yellow before I have said "go" to myself, I will come to a halt.

If you are keen to improve your driving skills here are some suggested links:

If you feel you are already a good driver and would like some more experience on a race track, I can highly recommend TrackSkill's drive days. Its says "club drive days" but they will let individuals attend. Drop my name if you need a reference. I will probably be attending the drive day on the 17th of October.

Awesome Uggs for cold weather

2008-07-26T02:06:00.001+09:30

Awesome Uggs
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Despite being, to a large extent, an anti-fashion item, I still like Ugg boots.

Adelaide has been particularly cold the last few days and these have kept my feet toasty warm. They also have a proper sole on them so you can wear them camping!

I get my Ugg boots from Jumbo Ugg Australia.

Mirror's Edge

2008-07-23T12:24:00.005+09:30

A recently announced game by DICE (creators of the Battlefield series of games) and EA called Mirror's Edge looks to be one of the most interesting games to be released in the last few years.

You play the character of Faith who is effectively a courier. These couriers are specifically used to avoid interception and eavesdropping by the totalitarian government. They evade government monitoring by using the city's rooftops and skyways to get from one point to another.

The movement in the game is synonymous with Free Running or Parkour.

One of the questions I've seen on numerous sites has been "where can I get those shoes?!?" referring to the unique split toe/tabi style footwear that Faith uses.

Some have suggested it is based on the Nike Air Rift or Nike Ikoi, others have suggested it is based on a Puma Parkour concept design.

The original trailer for the game had the brand "Loggo" on the shoe on the intro sequence, despite being of slightly different design and colour to the one actually in the game. Loggo has no such shoe or even any with a split-toe design.

So I put it to the Interwebs, what can you find that is the best match for this shoe?

Intro sequence:

Top and sides:

Sneaky cat

2008-07-18T08:30:00.001+09:30

Sneaky cat
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

My 19 year old Burmese appears to have immediately snuck in and occupied the warm spot I vacated in my bed this morning.

I guess she thinks because she's old she can get away with it.... and she can. :)

iPhone 3G - Two Days In

2008-07-14T07:14:00.002+09:30

iPhone 3G
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

On Friday, I relented to my temptation and upgraded from an i-mate JasJam which has served me well for 2 years to a new iPhone 3G on Telstra.

Being fairly passionate about technology, i've followed the ups and downs of the iPhone since its v1 announcement in February 2007. I was well aware I could obtain a version 1 model and use it in Australia but I had a requirement to be able to use Exchange Activesync. (this is a Microsoft server technology that pushes email, calendar, contacts etc to your phone) The iPhone v1 software is not compatible with this technology.

So back a couple of months ago at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference 2008 they announced the rumored version 2 software and 3G hardware along with support for Exchange Activesync, I made my decision.

Fast forward to now, I've had my white iPhone 3G 16GB for two and a half days. My thoughts?

Interface

Brilliant. The only point where it fails down is where you want to quickly switch between two applications as you have to go to the home screen every time. Also, there is no cut/copy/paste functionality which can become tiresome.

Applications

We've gone back in time to the heyday of Palm where only foreground applications are actually active and running. This is a fairly frustrating point and I understand why (speed) but disallowing developers to even have a very limited background widget to perform notification tasks or retrieve data in the background is a major step backward.

There is a "push" service coming later in the year that will allow developers to utilise an apple server to push notifications to which will then allow a very small subset of actions on certain events mainly surrounding notifications.

This means that the chances of any true IM applications is slim. Sure, there will be foreground apps like AIM which is already available but switch to another app and it signs you out.

I want to be able to have an app which will wake up my phone to tell me I have an instant message, just like SMS messages.

Physical Characteristics

The phone feels slippery in my hands and I have not yet got a comfortable way of holding it in portrait orientation while typing. Getting a case for it will certainly help but I'm looking at Vaja Cases which take over a month so I'll have to find something off the shelf in the meantime.

One of my favorite "little touches" is the little switch on the left side which instantly switches to silent mode. I have heard, however, some 3rd party apps don't honor this switch and still play sound so be cautious.

Why did I choose white? The back of the 3G is made of polycarbonate. If scratched, this material will show light-gray or white coloured scratches. By selecting the white version, it will continue to look good for longer.

Maps and GPS

Fast lock-on, even indoors, live updating of your position, simply brilliant. However, it can not really be used as an in-car turn-by-turn navigation system with the existing software.

Battery

It look like if you're not doing much with the phone it could last for days without a charge. However, heavy use of the device does seem to drain the battery quickly. I'm going to put this in a category of "sitting in a charging dock when at your desk". Given my usage patterns, I'm going to estimate no better battery life than my Jas-Jam which I charged every night.

WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth

The WiFi is very quick, as is the 3G, in fact, I noticed little difference in speed between the two.

Bluetooth on this device is extremely limited and you can only use it for a headset profile. No syncing, no bluetooth modem, no file or contact transfer.

No file system

Just like the old Palm OS devices, there is no file system as such, well, not one that the end user can access. You can save photos to the photos app and access them when syncing back to your Mac or PC but nothing else. This feels limiting and weird to me.

The Telstra Factor

So why did I pay more and go for Telstra? The iPhone 3G can connect to the mobile network on GSM/EDGE at 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz and the UMTS/HSDPA 3G network at 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz.

Optus, Three and Vodafone use 900, 1900 and 2100MHz for their 3G coverage and most of that is on 900MHz towers, which the iPhone can not use.

Telstra's NextG network runs at 850MHz and covers nearly 98% of the population meaning I'll have 3G coverage where the other carriers will be lucky to get a signal.

Some may argue that you leave the metro area so infrequently it isn't worth the Telstra price, I do go on camps, hunting, etc so I want that flexibility.

I did the calculations of what it'll cost given my usage patterns with Telstra vs Vodafone and Telstra came out $10/month more expensive but with much better coverage. A no-brainer for me to choose.

Summary

Overall, I am very impressed with the device despite its limitations. As more 3rd party apps are released (there are already over 500, 1/3 of which are free) and the Apple Push service becomes available, the iPhone 3G will continue to get better and rectify some of the short-comings I've detailed here.

nvidia GTX280 in a Shuttle case

2008-07-12T22:31:00.001+09:30

As promised, my report on if, and how, you can install a nvidia GTX280 card in a shuttle with a P2 chassis and 450W PSU. I have only been running for about an hour with the new card but no issues and a pass with 3DMark Vantage showed it could handle the load.

NOTE: Do not attempt this mod under any circumstances due to complexity, stupidity, warranty risk and general ass-coverage by me.

As you can see by the picture below, the only reason an 8800GTX will fit in a P2 chassis is that the heatsink’s shroud only covers 2/3 of the length of the card and the P2 12V connector is literally right next to the PCB.

If you take a look at this comparison image, you will see why you can not just swap it out for the GTX280.

With this modification, I purchased a P2 12V extension cable to perform the mod on rather than risking the warranty of the shuttle or the video card.

I first removed the pins from the end that plugs into the motherboard. If you do not know how to do this, research it as a special tool or a very very small flat-head screwdriver is required. I then reduced the length of the connector so that only 3mm of the top section remained. (this is for structural integrity) I used a craft knife to cut the plastic, it was quite soft.

Next, I used heatstrink tube to insulate the now exposed metal of the connectors to prevent shorts from occuring, the inserting the pins (IN THE CORRECT ORDER DAMNIT!) back into the connector.

Now plugged in, you can see how much vertical space has been saved.

With the GTX280 installed, and the cables routed to the sides rather than straight up, the card sits parellel to the motherboard… and there was much rejoycing.

When undertaking this, I was very careful to ensure the thin metal used in the pins did not break where they were bent to a 90 degree angle from where they normally sit.

As you can see from the completed installation, you have the modified P2 12V mobo extension, the 1 to 2 x 6 pin PCIe power connectors and the converter of one of those 6 pins to an 8 pin, all neatly packed away.

The iPhone Travesty

2008-07-11T10:47:00.005+09:30

So, some bright spark from Telstra made two particularly unpopular decisions regarding the iPhone. I'm certain both were motivated by profit.

Only one Telstra shop in Adelaide selling iPhone on launch day

That, and they only had 5 staff. When I got there 30 mins early there were over 40 people in queue. By 9am I'm told there were over 100. Given what I know of how long it takes the Telstra shop sales drones to process someone, 15 mins x 100 divided by 5 staff = 5 hours minimum.

In addition, I'm told the Telstra sales system went down, meaning nobody could buy any phones.
Price gouging the iPhone

I was expecting it to be expensive. However, given the extremely late release of plans by Telstra, it gave little time to compare on the day. Having sat down and compared the plans, they are effectively charging double for the iPhone compared to the other carriers.

People often think I'm crazy for wanting an iPhone with Telstra however there are some good reasons behind it:

Best overall coverage
UMTS 850 coverage

What does this mean? Well, the iPhone only supports 3G (UMTS) on 850, 1900 and 2100MHz. Optus, Vodafone and Three only do UMTS on 1900 and 2100MHz and even then, only in the metro area.

If I was to get an iPhone on any network other than Telstra, i may as well have just got the 1st generation handset because 3G would have been of very little benefit.

So what am I going to do? Wait for now.

Update: I've waited long enough, had a chance to evaluate my options and went to the Telstra Shop at Westfield Marion (SA) only to find that, despite having plenty of iPhones, their computers had been down all day and the only people to walk out of the store with an iPhone bought it outright!

So now, I wait until they've processed my manual forms. *sigh*

WD VelociRaptor Hard Drive

2008-06-20T16:44:00.001+09:30

WD VelociRaptor Hard Drive
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Replaced my aging 74GB WD Raptor (which I purchased second hand 2 years ago!) with the brand new 300GB VelociRapor 10,000 rpm SATA hard drive.

Its unbelievably fast and is facinating that it is actually a 2.5" hard drive in a 3.5" heatsink/adaptor.

Its not the same form factor as laptop hard drives but the same as 2.5" SAS server hard drives.

Mum & Sister

2008-06-20T16:43:00.001+09:30

Mum & Sister
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

They helped me the other day by buying me new bedding that looks awesome. Thanks sis! Thanks mum!

Modding up Mum's PC

2008-06-20T10:50:00.001+09:30

Thermalright Extreme 120
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

As a (now very late) Mother's day present, I'm upgraing mum from a AthlonX2 4600+ 2GB system to a Core2Duo E6400 2GB system with a freaking huge Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme heatsink. As you can see by the photo... I misjudged the height of the bloody thing so now I've got to mod the case just to fit it.

Vegitarianism: Political Correctness Gone Mad

2008-05-29T12:52:00.003+09:30

Let me preface this by saying my workmates are a lovely group of people and this is not directed at them in the slightest, it was more that this situation is a realisation of how pathetic society has become.

We were having a work lunch in the boardroom to farewell 3 awesome people from our organisation. The lunch was a variety of rolls,baguettes and sandwiches. Now there was vegitarian and normal. Of the normal there was no allowance for people of my pursuasion... someone who doesn't eat uncooked vegetables. When I was asked why I didn't eat anything, I explained the situation and felt like I was some kind of freak.

Its politically incorrect to make someone feel unwelcome because of their eating habits, even to the point that you will often find allowances made for:

Vegan
Vegitarian
Fruitarian
Islam (Halal)
Jewish (Kosher)
Low-carb (Atkins)
Low-fat (diet)
Low-sugar (Diabetic)
Organic

But when someone like me even suggests that they should be catering for someone who doesn't eat uncooked vegetables because I don't like them, I end up feeling like some kind of freak. Vegans, vegitarians and fruitarians all follow thier diet because of personal preferences. My personal preferences are no uncooked veggies so why should I be treated any different?

All I wanted was something like a plain cheese and/or ham sandwich and I end up embarrassed and go across to the pub to have a nice steak with cooked veggies.

Oh what a difference 45nm makes

2008-05-15T21:03:00.007+09:30

Today I started to assemble my upgraded PC with a new Core 2 Duo E8500 3.1GHz CPU. When I took the processor out of the box I noticed something really strange about the heatsink compared to the one from the E6550 I put in my media center only a couple of months ago.

Core2 Duo Heatsink (side)

Core2 Duo Heatsink (base)

On the left is the heatsink and fan from the 65nm E6550 Conroe-core CPU which runs at 2.4GHz. On the right is the one for the 45nm E8500 Wolfdale-core CPU which runs at 3.1GHz.

All I can say is that the E6550 obviously needed a much more heavy duty heatsink as its twice the height, more than twice the weight and incorporates a copper core whereas the new heatsink is pure aluminum... cheaper but not as conductive.

Penfolds, they still has it?

2008-05-14T21:24:00.001+09:30

Penfolds, they still has it?
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Got a couple of Penfolds Bin 138 Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre tonight. I wasn't expecting much but it was a great drop.

Nice and smooth, slightly harsh aftertaste. 7/10.

(I like blends)

Sexual Discrimination Abounds!

2008-05-06T15:25:00.003+09:30

Oh how the world is completely wrong. Political correctness dictates that sexual discrimination is wrong unless it is discriminating against men.

A national paid maternity leave scheme has been proposed that would mean all employers and workers would pay a levy to fund six months of leave for new mothers.

The model also allows four weeks' paid paternity leave for fathers.

From ABC News Online

Imagine the furor if legislation gave men six and a half times MORE benefit than women? What about me? When I have kids I'm going to want to spend as much time at home as I can!