Weekend Adventures

First on the agenda on Saturday morning was watching my niece and nephew at Little Athletics. I only stayed for about an hour and a half but managed to see each of the kids run in a race. They were both lucky enough to get medals, a silver and a bronze, for their efforts. The theme for Saturday was relays, so all the races were relays,but there was also some discus throwing going on as well. A well aimed discus nearly took out a video camera that a parent had set up on a tripod, but the parent was able to deflect it.

In all the Little athletics looked a lot of fun, it made me wish I had been inclined to take part when I was a kid. Forget the olympics, little athletics is where it is all happening. My mum offered to take me once or twice, but I was never interested in such things. I wish she had pushed me a bit more maybe.

Saturday afternoon I was off with Mike to a friends barbecue in Little River. The birthday girl, J and her husband M built the house last year and it was the first time I had been there, so that was interesting. They have a lot of land, a large house and a big shed to go with it. Did I mention that the house was big? I think it's a 4 bedroom house (or 3 bedroom + study), but every room is very large. They even have room for 2 fridges in the kitchen. They still need to build the verandah though.

As for the party, J hired a jumping castle and even mowed a cricket pitch for the obligatory game of cricket. I had a go of the jumping castle but it seemed a lot more difficult than I remember. I did something to my arms and they've been aching ever since, so I've decided that jumping castles are more trouble than they are worth, or for kids only.

Mike and myself ended up staying the night (Mike didn't feel up to driving), I got the last spare bed while Mike got the couch, a fair deal I think. In the morning we drove back to Melbourne.

For the rest of Sunday I watched some TV, did a bit on the computer, and caught up on some much needed sleep.

Hello Blog

Hello Blog.

I know I've been neglecting you lately so I'm just leaving a note to say I haven't forgotten you and will make some real posts soon. My adventures have been a bit thin on the ground lately. Actually I should post on what I did on the weekend for a start...

Ben

Jury Duty

Last month I had to attend jury duty. The thing with jury duty is that you sit around in a lounge area with over 100 other potential jurors in the rather nice county court until they draw a jury pool for a trial. It's quite boring, but stressful not having any idea what is happening. On the first draw of 30 people they got to 27 before drawing my name at 28. As luck would have it (or not) I went all the way and got to sit on a trial jury. In hindsight that was lucky, because the trial I was assigned to was rather short. The others starting that day going for longer, one much longer.

The formalities and processes of the court are fascinating. Not at all like Boston Legal (or anyother american TV show) though, which is a good thing. In fact the first thing they tell you is to forget everything you've seen on TV. The one thing about the court that stood out for me was that the way the judge and barristers spoke was extremely formal and precise. There no mistaking the meaning of what they were saying.

The jury is looked after by a person known as the judge's tipstaff, or "tippy". They are not allowed to know anything of the deliberations, but look after the practicalities. While court is in session out tippy was seen to be doing crossword and sudoku puzzles, as well as looking after the items of evidence when necessary.

Due to confidentiality I can't reveal anything about the case. In fact I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say, so it's best not to say anything.

At the end of it you get a cheque for your service ($36 a day up to 5 days, with a higher rate after 5 days) and an exemption from jury service for 3 years. That payment is not as bad as it seems as your employer is required to make up the difference between the jury payment and what you could reasonably expect to be paid for the days work you miss.

As I said it was and interesting few days.

Perth Notes

I wrote this over a month ago but never actually posted it. I might post some of the more interesting photos latter. We left for Perth and on the 29th of September and came back on the 1st of September, a really quick trip. What follows is my account of the trip...

It was a quick trip: we left on Friday and returned on Monday. The purpose was for a few mates and me to see Collingwood play Fremantle on Friday night. If you follow the footy you'll know what happened and know that that was the lowlight of the trip. The rest of the trip was fantastic.

One thing you notice is the amount money over there. A fairly basic house, perhaps a bit run down, goes for over $500,000. Most of the main footpaths are paved with brick pavers, and there is much new development. The area surrounding the Subiaco railway station reminded me of a utopian city.

The public transport system (Transperth) is clean, fast, safe and frequent. There is an overwhelming presence of transit police and revenue protection staff, and yet they are friendly, courteous and non threatening. I don't think we waited more than about 10 minutes for a train ever, and when they did come they were clean. The only signs of vandalism were scratched windows.

The public transport ticketing system is an interesting one. They have a smartcard system that works. We didn't use those though and just bought cash tickets. From what I can tell the ticket machines are the same ones that will be installed here when the Myki system finally gets underway. The fares themselves were fairly reasonable, $3.50 bought a 2 zone ticket that was valid for 2 hours, that is what we used to get to Fremantle.

On Saturday we caught the train to Fremantle and visited the Fremantle Gaol and the Little Creatures Brewery. We did two tours of the gaol, a basic one, and the great escapes tour. We learned a bit about prison conditions through the years and various riots and escapes, and basic prison life. It was an interesting way to spend the afternoon.

Little Creatures Brewery is fantastic, if not a bit pricey. Basically it's a beer hall in the middle of a brewery with pipes and vats and things all around the seating area. Being a Saturday afternoon it was packed too. It's not dark in dingy, very open and light, right on the foreshore of the Indian Ocean. I recommend a visit when in Fremantle. This was the most "Melbourne" thing I saw over there, apparently they have a place in Brunswick Street Fitzroy.

One of my friends suggested we find a Sizzler restaurant for dinner. And so we did. We took a train to the northern suburbs and walked about 1-2 KM through deserted streets until walking into the entertainment hub of Innaloo. Yes I ate at a place called Innaloo. We lined up for about 15 minutes before being seated and began to raid the salad bar. Brought back old memories, except this time I was able to have some self discipline unlike my visits to Sizzler as a kid.

On Sunday the plan was to go to Cottesloe beach and join the famous (it only registered vuguely for me) Sunday session at the pub. I think we were a bit early, but we got see a capoeira demonstration and had fish and chips for lunch. Back in Perth we walked from the Mount Lawley train station to our hostel (instead of walking from the city) and hung around there before returning to Mount Lawley for dinner. We went to the Flying Scottsman hotel for their $10 Pizza and Pint night. The freshly made pizzas were great and the pints were crisp and cold. Sitting near us were Muph or Plutonic from the hip hop duo Muph & Plutonic.

Monday we flew back. At check in we were told that the in flight entertainment wasn't working. Two of my mates managed to score a $10 newsagent voucher as compensation. Somehow they managed to play a movie anyway, which was good, a shame it was Indiana Jones which I had already seen. On this flight I managed to fly on a type of aircraft I've never been on before, the Airbus A330. This aircraft, an A330-200 registration VH-EBJ "Margaret River" was only delivered in May so it still had that new plane feel about it.

That's it really

Perth to Melbourne

This weekend I made a video of my flight back from Perth nearly a month ago.

Hopping Mad

So I arrive home from work tonight to find people stretching nets across the road. As it turns out there was a Kangaroo in the wilds of suburbia. The wildlife rescue lady chased it around with a tranquilliser dart on a pole for a while before it hopped into one of the nets and they were able to capture it. It was quite exciting, but you could tell the poor thing was terrified. AFter it was captured someone had to lean on it Crocodile Hunter style until the could inject the sedative. Soon enough the Kangaroo was out of it and they were able to place it in a big sack type thing for transportation.

Away

Hi,

I've been away from my blog a bit lately. Don't know why, I just have. Well I did just return from a weekend trip to Perth yesterday which was cool. There's a fresh post in the oven about that. I just need to sift and stir the photos into the mix. Number one highlight was eating at Sizzler, oh and visiting a place called Little Creatures in Fremantle.

Still being on Perth time I slept right through my alarm this morning and didn't wake until nearly 10am. I didn't go to work today, and I don't care. The joys of being a contractor. I think I'll start looking for a new job soon anyway.

So today I spent the day playing around in iTunes and printing Super Mario stickers. Tonight I've drinking Strongbow Cider while I've been ripping the last of my CD's into iTunes, a bit of a flashback, being the 1998 and 1999 Tripple J Hottest 100 compilations. The current song I'm listening to is Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys. Here is the video:

Redundancy: Better Homes and Gardens, and Fairfax

If you don't know, Better Homes and Gardens is a lifestyle show featuring a number of "experts" on various home and garden matters. So you have cooks, crafty people, home handymen, gardeners, vets and the host, former swimmer, Joanna Griggs. On the surface it would appear that Joanna Griggs area of expertise is TV presentation, which she does an OK job at, even if she is a bit grating at times. In reality she is utterly superfluous to the function of the show. They justify her role by giving her one or two small crafty projects to show the viewers, but you can tell that it's not really her thing. The truth is that she could easily be replaced by the home and garden experts taking turns to introduce each others segments.

Then there is today's announcement that Fairfax is letting go of 500 employees to save costs. My immediate response was to ask just what exactly is it that all these people are doing that they can actually afford to get rid of them. 500 is a lot of people doing not much at all.

Noisy Neighbours

Living near an active military establishment has it's advantages and disadvantages. I am talking about the Simpson Barracks in Macleod/Watsonia which is less then a kilometre across a small valley from my house (If I look out my window I can see it now).

Probably one of the biggest advantages is the large area of bushland that has remained relatively intact. My primary school had a tree planting deal with the army nursery (yes the army grows plants too). The Army took us in the back of some trucks (like in the movies) a couple of times to plant seedling and the like. The Army also let our school grow seedlings in the nursery for planting in the school grounds. That was great fun, but these days I don't think you could get away with it.

The biggest disadvantage is the noise. You get used to the short and frequent bursts of gun fire when they occasionally have target practice. Right now they are firing something rather large, like a mortar or a canon. I'm expecting something through the window at any moment!

The Australian Army school of signals is based there, so I wouldn't imagine much shooting is on the agenda, just enough to be competent with a weapon if it comes to that sort of thing.

I seem to recall there is a shooting range that is shared between the Army and a gun club, perhaps an army gun club.

Most frequently though we hear the sound of music. Being home to the defence School of Music you tend to get lot of that. Concert bands, marching bands, buglers, bagpipes, drums you name it. Throughout the year they put on a number of free concerts. The twilight ones almost always end with fireworks in time to the 1812 overture.

Probably the most intense noise ever was the almost constant throb, drone and scream of Black Hawk and Huey helicopters (it depended how far away they were flying) during some sort of training exercise about 10 years ago. It was pretty exciting at first, but it went on for about a week. The Black Hawks came back during the commonwealth games in 2006, I think they were based at Essendon Airport instead of the barracks.

I should mention that the biggest disadvantage was that this was one of Australia/USA main communications bases for listening in on the Russians, so vaporisation in the face of all out nuclear war was a given, the graffiti near Camberwell Station left over from the 70's says so. Actually my mum used to tell me that too when I was little. A really comforting thing to tell your children... Thankfully they moved that capability to a better location in northern Western Australia somewhere.

Overall it is pretty peaceful, with short periods of extreme noise. There are no complaints here.

Evolution

Mouse over to see the evolution of the 737 from Original to Next Generation

The first image is a 737-200, the later a 737-800. The most obvious external differences are increased length, a different tail fin, winglets and different engines. Less obvious changes to the newer model include a redesigned wing and complete electronic systems. In fact there is very little in common between the two, but for the general shape of the fuselage (which itself dates back to the 707 and 727).

The different shape of engines comes from the move to "high bypass" turbofans resulting in larger engines overall. In order to accommodate the larger engines and stop them dragging on the ground some components were shifted to allow for the distinctive flat bottom. The modern engines are much more efficient and quiet.


The Boeing 737-400 (above) belongs to the generation that sits between these two aircraft. The Generations are, "Original" for the 100 and 200 series, "Classic" for the 300,400 and 500 series, and "Next Generation" for the 600, 700 and 800 series.


Mouseover code from Terrys Playpen.

Sandblasted

I couldn't decide which one to include so I included both. I like the comment in the second.

One of my aims in life is to visit this beach and get sandblasted, too bad if the landing is a bit short.

This is of course the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean. The airport is Princess Juliana International Airport. An interesting fact about St Martin is that the island is split in two. One side belongs to the French, they call it Saint-Martin. The other side belongs to the Netherlands, the side that has the airport, where it is called Sint Maarten. The Netherlands side is part of the Netherlands Antilles, while the French side makes up the larger part of the Collectivity of Saint Martin, which succeeded from the French Department of Guadeloupe in 2003.

If that's not interesting enough, the island has it's own bi-lingual anthem, O Sweet Saint Martin's Land, that is sung in both French and Dutch.

I don't think there is any chance that Airbus A380 aircraft will serve the island. As it is they runway is barely long enough for 747s and all aircraft need to perform a u turn at the end of the runway as there isn't enough room for a taxi way.

Edit: This video proves it is more exciting from the beach, plus shows the U Turn at the end of the runway.

The Melbourne Shuffle

You Tube is full of videos showing people doing the the Melbourne Shuffle, this one shows you how to do it. I'm really uncoordinated, so I don't think I'd better try it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The order of the day was to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and then see what happened after that. I wanted to see it at the cinema, not on DVD. After waiting so long I had exactly one option open, Greater Onion Union at 11am. So I get there at about 10:30 and find the whole place in darkness and the doors locked. So I walked up to Safeway at QV to get something to drink and a packet of peanut m-m's.

When I arrived back at the Cinema it was about 10:45, the doors were still locked and the lights were still turned off. There was a couple sitting on a seat opposite the door and a guy sitting on the step. I sat down on the step too. Over the next 10 minutes a steady stream of people arrived. Eventually the lights went on and someone unlocked the doors. We all filed in and made a queue at the candy bar/box office.

I was the first one in the cinema and so had squatters rights on the best seat. I chose one 3/4 of the way towards the back dead centre. Everyone else that came in after me, only 5 or 6 people, (I think the rest were going to Momma Mia whic started at the same time) sat in the rear couple of rows. This is a big theatre by todays standards, straight out of the 70's with black vinyl seats, crimson red curtains and big glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. I quite like it actually. There are no cup holders, but the seats are comfy. You just have pick one that hasn't split down a seam on the cushion. Cinema 1 at Russell Street is a national treasure.

Greater Union in Russell Street is where I usually go when I see a movie on my own. The reason? Because no one goes there. It's almost like a private screening. I don't really understand the stigma attached to people going to see a movie alone. What do you do? You go and sit in a dark room and watch a movie, that's it. It's not like you need someone to talk to. The first time I did it alone, I was quite apprehensive, since then I've been OK. Having said that I have only ever been to four films on my own (including today).

As to the film itself, I liked it. Indiana Jones got up to his old shenanigans, albeit after a shaky start. Harrison Ford is still Harrison Ford, playing Harrison Ford, predictable but good. He even threw in the classic line "I've got a bad feeling about this", a reference to the two Star Wars trilogies. The star of the show was without a doubt Cate Blanchett, who stole the show with her brilliant but cheesy Russian/Ukranian accent including all the "wubble u's".

Moving on in time from the original 3 films, the backdrop of the cold war made a brilliant raison d'être for the plot of the film (as opposed to Nazi Germany 20 years earlier). The action was fast paced, with never a boring moment, in fact the over 2 hours long film flew by. The special effects for the most part weren't noticeable, except for the really obviously physically impossible (in this dimension anyway) parts. The stunts were as you would expect from Indy. As usual there was a good assortment of creepy crawlies, but for some reason, fewer booby traps. The nice quick and tidy ending with the hint of a sequel(s) left me wanting more.

Overall I would give it 3.5 stars. Just good clean fun.

Out and about

Last week I had a day off work and while I was out and about doing un-work like things I happened to see Bumblebee 1. Bumblebee 1 is one of the 5 tram's that Yarra Trams has borrowed from it's sister company in Mulhouse, France. These 5 trams are Citadis trams like those already used in Melbourne, the main difference being that they are longer (5 segments as opposed to 3), have styling differences, and not to mention they are very VERY yellow. I think they look great, that yellow really stands out from the grey of Melbourne in winter, and the other grey trams. Two thumbs down to Yarra Trams for painting all the trams grey and white, one thumb up for sticking with the yellow on the borrowed trams.

Bumblebee 1 turning into Bourke Street from Spencer Street

After I had finished my business in town I had a few hours to kill so I decided to go for a train ride somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be Sunbury, so I boarded the 1515 service to Echuca. What impressed me was the utilisation of the rolling stock. It was a six car V/locity with three 2 car trains. At Sunbury the 2 rear carriages were dropped off, and a further 2 were to be dropped off at Bendigo, with the remaining 2 cars continuing on to Echuca. At each of the intermediate stations the cars that were dropped off were to form return services to Melbourne. Passengers were advised of which cars to travel in to reach their destination in numerous announcements throughout the journey. To me this seems like a brilliant use of rolling stock.

VLocities at Sunbury.

When I alighted at Sunbury I noticed that there were a large number of people standing in the aisles of the first 4 cars. There was another VLocitity waiting in the siding at the end of the platform that I gather was dropped off the previous Bendigo train. After waiting for a few minutes the Bendigo and Echuca portions continued on, and the two remaining sets coupled to form the return to Melbourne. Soon enough I was on my way in a very sparsely occupied 4 car set. In all there were probably about 5 people in the 2 car set I was in. On arrival back at Southern Cross this train formed a Traralgon service and there were many passengers waiting.

I guess my point is that I like the idea of using and dividing/joining multiple units to make the best use of rolling stock. While the return to Melbourne was void of passengers it was immediately used for a service to somewhere else where there was demand. Two thumbs up to V/Line.

Impressions of Eastlink

So on Sunday I went for a cruise down Eastlink to see what the fuss was about. The trouble was there were a lot of other insane people doing the same thing. There was a traffic jam just before the tunnel entrance (in both directions). I'm not sure what caused it, I suspect there was some sort of wave effect going on.

The verdict?

It's quick. Starting from the Eastern Freeway it gets you to the Frankston traffic jam way faster than taking Springvale Rd. All up it took us about 25-30 minutes end to end, and a total travel time of about 1.5 hrs Mornington to Greensborough (that includes 20-30 minutes stuck in the Frankston traffic jam).

One thing that I noticed is a weird resonance in the road that causes subtle vibrations that make your voice go wobbly if you go "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". Probably a conspiracy with suspension/tyre manufacturers and fitters and or orthopaedic surgeons to increase business.

On the environmental front I noticed there was much landscaping involved, with several wetlands located along side the road and the Dandenong Creek. No doubt these were put in place to soak up any pollutants seeping into nearby waterways. As for noise pollution, they have installed noise barriers along much of the length of the road. These aren't your normal everyday concrete "stone henge gone mad" noise barriers. These are of the bright and colourful left overs from the 70s, see-through orange and green noise barriers. I'm sure some residents of Dandenong North now enjoy some of the most beautiful green sunsets you can see on earth.

Overall, I think if it is your business to drive around, then the $5ish one way toll would be worth it, both in time and fuel savings ... For now.

That said, I don't support the building of more motorways (free or toll) the money could have been better spent upgrading Melbourne's public transport network. Supposedly there is space in the median reserved for heavy and light rail, I won't be holding my breath. I also believe that room was reserved in all the entrance/exit ramps for bus stops, again, keep breathing. The bicycle path alongside is a token gesture.

Q. When is a toll road not a toll road?

A. When you ride a motorcycle apparently

I find it hard to swallow that today a large group of motorcycles is travelling along Eastlink in protest of the tolls for motorcycle use of the road. What don't they understand about the term toll road? Although they take up less road space than a car or truck they are still using the road, and should still pay to use the road.

This from a group that already gets free parking, and is largely immune to road congestion anyway.

Ebay Annoyances

I buy stuff on ebay occasionally. My annoyance is not with ebay itself but rather with people who I shall call micro-bidders. Micro-bidders are those people who make bids on items that are only a few dollars above the current winning bid. I have to admit that this is what I did when I first used ebay. Micro-bidding is time consuming and I believe it inflates the price of the item too high, mostly through petty bidding wars that develop from a win at any cost attitude. Great if you are selling, but annoying to other bidders.

Fortunately, as I'm sure most people realise, ebay will bid on your behalf. All you need to do is pick a price and as other bidders make bids under your maximum bid ebay will automatically bid for you. Once the maximum bidding goes above your maximum bid you are out of the race. If you wish to go on, enter a new bid, otherwise give up. Ebay has made the function available, use it.

To get the most out of this function you should do your homework first to see what similar items are going for and use that as your benchmark (indeed shop around elsewhere as sometimes the prices people pay on ebay are too high). When the item comes up again, bid early and make it your maximum bid. If I'm a bit desperate I will add a bit to my maximum bid, say 5 - 10%. If you get outbid so be it, but there is also the chance that you will win the item at a much lower price.

A trick I use to fool the micro-bidders is if they are really active for a particular item is to make a bid of an unusual amount. By unusual amount I mean instead of bidding a flat bid of $56, bid $56.37. I have won a few auctions by the skin of my teeth using this tactic. It is funny to look at the bidding history after the auction and seeing that the last bidder that tried to outbid you made a bid of $56, if they had gone $1 higher they would have won. The best bit is that you still get the item for a $56.


Moral of the story, micro bidding is annoying and can drive the bidding too high. Know your limit, stick too it, and bid smart.

Pixel Art

A Recipe

• Take one random photo.
• Open in image viewing/editing program, I used Irfanview.
• Crop the feature you want to' pixelise'.
• Reduce the colour depth to something manageable, say 16 colours.
• Reduce size of selection to something manageable, say 64 x 64 pixels.
• Copy into Paint (or other raster image editor).
• Remove dithering and smooth out areas using the basic set of colours.
• Add highlights and shadows (I actually did this as part of the above step, but not very well).
• Resize at will (do not re sample) making sure the aspect ratio preserved.
• Save as PNG. Or if you want an icon ICO (in Irfanview of similar).
  

The perspective is completely out, the shadows are kind of weird, and all undercarriage detail is missing. For my first real attempt at creating pixel art, I'm quite happy. Supposedly you are meant to put everything in cartoon like black lines as well. It reminds me of the artwork in old DOS games.

There are no doors or windows on the side either, they are too hard to draw.

Oh and this is the rear of the train in case you didn't realise.

The Rimmer Experience

Today I bought a 250gb external hard drive. Lately I've decided to name all my computers and drives after things and characters in red dwarf, so I decided Kryten would be a good name. My computer is called Red Dwarf and I have a flash drive called Starbug. So while looking for an icon to use for the new drive I got a little distracted in the sea of all things Red Dwarf. In fact I stumbled over something I had completely forgotten about. The Rimmer Experience, which takes place in the 7th season of the show, when Rimmer travels away from Red Dwarf as Ace Rimmer (fellows, smoke me a kipper I'll be back for breakfast.). I'm much more familiar with the first 4 seasons, anything after that I've only seen once or twice.

The Rimmer Experience

I would embed the video, but BBC Worldwide has disabled the embedding feature. There are others but this is the fullest version I could find).

Links:

• The Official Red Dwarf Website
• Red Dwarf - Wikipedia
• List of Red Dwarf Episodes - Wikipedia
• Red Dwarf sound bytes

Now if you don't mind, I've got some skutters to attend to....

If you've got this far you've done well. if you liked the Rimmer experience you'll love tongue tied. I have a vague recollection that I made a post about tongue tied some time in the past, but it was before I started tagging posts so it's a bit hard to find right now. Go look it up on You Tube.

And after all that I still haven't found a decent Kryten icon to use...

Mki farce

News today is that myki has been delayed yet again. Honestly I don't know why the government has persisted with myki for so long, but with all the hardware that has been installed on stations trams and buses recently we must be near the point of no return. Really we should have followed NSW lead and dumped the smart card system altogether. Kosky doesn't seem interested, so here is my suggestion.

I don't claim to understand the technicalities of the software problem, but it would seem to be related to the new features rather than the basics. Surely an interim measure can be made to get the hardware working as a direct replacement for the current Metcard hardware, which as the article states has been allowed to run down over the last few years. Just get the hardware selling and validating tickets the same way as the Metcard does now. As far as I can tell the hardware is all but ready to go, why not use it now rather than let it just sit there unused for 3-4 years?!

When the bugs have been sorted out issue a software update to introduce the new functionality.