Posts from 2010
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Peats Ridge update before New Year
Festival is great, if insanely hot. Tomorrow is forecast to hit 37 so we're likely to be packed and on our way pretty early. Disaster struck this morning: broken thong. Being a bloody hippy festival,…
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Peats Ridge Festival
We've had a lovely day so far. This is watching Washington in the late afternoon.
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Beers with Hanesy in Shellharbour
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Lovely hat Louis
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I Hate Math! (Not After This, You Won't) : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR
Vi Hart calls herself "a recreational mathemusician currently living on Long Island." She talks faster than a machine gun, loves math, and draws like a dream. Her newest video: "Doodling in Math Class…
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Xmas photo
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Wikileaks: major news reports miss the major point
Is it just me or are the major news services missing the whole point of the Wikileaks US embassy cables? Sure it's a bit embarrassing for the Yanks that their data all got into the public domain, but…
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This captures the essence of the Windows user experience
In other words, I know exactly what you're trying to do, but you're doing it wrong so I won't do it.
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Pulled pork
This weekend I made pulled pork again. It's such a great treat and uses insanely cheap meat. I pretty much followed this recipe from Kidspot, with about $15 worth of pork shoulder and a bit of a mixtu…
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Fantastic weekend
We've had a fantastic weekend. Gorgeous weather, good times. Yesterday we kind of hung around a bit, played, cooked and the like. I cooked up some patience-required pulled pork (more on which later).…
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An alternative to anti-siphoning: unbundling
The federal government's sport anti-siphoning list is in the media today. Bernard Keane pointed out in yesterday's Crikey that it's a giant, anti-competitive con that hands sports broadcasting rights…
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Spam attack
If you seem to have received an email from me about my new Chinese web presence, yes it's spam. Seems to have been some kind of break in on my Google-hosted email. The emails look like they've gone to…
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Hey Telcos, lift your game and stop lying!
Optus have been served a Federal Court injunction preventing them from doing further misleading advertising. Optus is one of the worst in the sneaky behaviour department, with insane amounts of fine p…
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Why don't we all switch banks?
The Prime Minister is telling angry bank customers to " take their money and their business somewhere else ". For your transaction and savings accounts, this is reasonably easy. If you have a mortgage…
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Temperance Lane
What a great little bar!
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Is your News Limited?
titch of sydney Posted at 2:40 AM Today to the critic open your eyes alot more iraquis would have died at the hands of the taliban regime if we did not intervene via news.com.au Only the smartest make…
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Spreets: a bit shonky, a lot badly organised
The concept of the Groupon has been going on in Australia for a bit. Essentially it's a "deal a day" idea where, if enough people sign on to the day's deal, it happens. Suppliers can use it to build i…
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This new blog
I've had this new blog on Posterous for a while now but have only just got around to updating my web site to match. I'm redirecting the various RSS feeds so they should all be getting it from the prop…
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Louis has a water and sand toy
Louis loves his new toy, a water and sand table he got for his birthday.
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Woolworths gaming unit pricing
In the ethnic food section paprika is priced per 100g. In the spice section, per 10g. Slimy.
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Dunraven
I know the feeling. I bet this sign went up on a Tuesday. This is a house around the corner on Illawarra Road that had an open house on Saturday, so we went and had a sticky. Turns out it's a house I…
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Sun, beer, friends
We had a wonderful afternoon down at the Concordia Club, drinking German beer, eating schnitzel and pork knuckle, hanging out in the sun. A fantastic, lazy Sunday. In the photos are Matt's pork knuckl…
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Child bike seats are problematic
Louis is in daycare and Holly starts back at work two days a week on Monday, so our attention has gone to a seat on our bikes for the boy to help with the daily commute. It's a bit problematic. To sta…
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Erm, thanks but no thanks
Being invited to attend a company's "Customer Advisory Board" is nice. It recognises my real-world experience with their products, and hopefully means some of my ideas will end up in the product, maki…
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Malt whisky ginger cake recipe
via guardian.co.uk I made this over the weekend with some of the lovely Bruichladdich "Peat" multi vintage whisky that Louis received for his first birthday. It was amazingly light, with a very comple…
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Dear Labor, please vote down gay marriage, sincerely Greens
It appears Labor will vote as a bloc against the Greens gay marriage bill. To get to the lower house it will probably require the support of the Liberals, but tactically that might be a smart move on…
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I know where you've been
Reading the site behind the evil evil evil evercookie hack (evil, almost indestructible cookies), I stumbled upon the author's CSS History Knocker code. This is something I'd toyed with in the past bu…
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Shred the week
Time-Killing ‘Chrono Shredder’ is a Day-Dicing Wall Calender Wall clock, calender and mortality reminder all wrapped up in one odd work of (post)modern art. The so-called ‘Chrono Shredder’ provides a…
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Classy
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Distributed social networks and security
Most of you will know I'm not on Facebook. By the time Facebook came around, I'd already been on Friendster, Orkut, LinkedIn and the rest and lost the desire to really get into a new social network. T…
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Dear Bogans
via media.crikey.com.au From yesterday's Crikey. Brilliant.
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Kindle: first impressions
My Kindle arrived on Monday and I've been using it to read stuff ever since so I thought I'd record my first impressions of the device. Hardware design The industrial design is incredibly slick. This…
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Catholic? You share the blame.
An Onymous Lefty claims that protests against the Pope's visit to the UK are aimed at the church, not its members. His reasoning is that it's the church hierarchy at fault for its various ills, not th…
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Logstalgia: web log file analysis as pong
via thealphablenders.com This is very cool. Web log file analysis visualized as a game of pong. (Pointed out by Des. Thanks!)
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Welcome back to work
A good start...
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Back home
We're back home after our week in NZ. Great trip. Not looking forward to being back at work! Today's journey involved driving to Picton, catching the ferry across the Cook Strait and getting ourselves…
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South Island
Heading home today following a couple of days in Marlborough.
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Seaside afternoon
The weather started out bad so we headed to a fantastic kid-friendly pub. Afterwards we took a drive around the coast and the sun came out at Eastborne so we were able to add another leg to our NZ pla…
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Wellington Phoenix vs Sydney FC
Not a good result but we had fun.
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Wellington and a whole lot of squid
We spent the day at Te Papa museum and wandering Cuba Street in Wellington. Lovely day. Tonight, the football!
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Martinborough then Wellington
Saw a winery this morning and played in a playground in Martinborough. Now we're in Wellington, staying with Hannah, Des, Finn & Beckett tonight.
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Fun in Greytown
We've had an odd day. Up very early, kids slightly ill and missed out on seeing any wineries. But it's been nice anyway.
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Louis gets another stamp in his passport
Flying into NZ.
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Why do people watch Mad Men?
via fuckyeahdementia.com Visualisation at its finest.
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Baking with hefeweizen yeast
Wheat beers such as hefeweizen, weissbier and wit are all light beers made from a mix of malted barley and wheat. In southern Germany the typical hefeweizen is fermented with a non-flocculating yeast,…
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Life sure has become globalised
This morning I've got a meeting with developers in Vancouver, then straight after that a meeting with our dedicated support guy in Utah. Later this week I've organised a meeting with developers in Par…
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Funniest bug ticket comment ever!
Comment #56 on issue 1180 by bryce.boley: Email app does not display inline images http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1180 So my ex-girlfriend sent me some really hot photos of herself.…
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Considering the Kindle
via amazon.com I've been keeping an eye on Kindles since launch. The idea of a very small, very light reading device is very appealing. Two things where I would use it every day are The Guardian and C…
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Churches get opt-out point on same-sex adoption bill
THE independent state MP Clover Moore has moved to shore up support for her same-sex adoption bill by giving church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to gay and lesbian couples without br…
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Why thank you Windows
So I'm copying files onto an SD card to go into a digital photo frame and suddenly get this message: Odd. I check whether there's space on the card. Loads. I check that the file names aren't too long…
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Wollongong weekend
We spent the weekend down in Wollongong. Scott & Katie were up for. Violet's first birthday so we got to meet Penny at last. Loving the gorgeous sunny days!
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Charlie Brooker: 'Ground Zero mosque'? The reality is less provocative
I once had a poo in a pub about two minutes' walk from Buckingham Palace. I was not subsequently arrested and charged with crapping directly onto the Queen's pillow. That's how "distance" works in Bri…
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Bring back National Service
Now before you wonder what reactionary has taken over my blog, some background. On Saturday I spent the morning handing out Greens How To Votes at Wilkins Public School. One of the disturbing things a…
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At last, everyone might get a say
Instead of everyone - even ministers - finding out about major reforms after the arguments have been had and the brochures printed, non-kitchen cabinet members might actually get some say. Instead of…
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Malt Shovel Brewery tour
Matt and I just did a tour followed by beer and food matching. First taste is the new Noir Stout with a hint if licorice. Delicious!
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Louis has worked out steps
And he's pretty damn fast crawling these days too. [video width="500" height="374" mp4="https://media.contractorpermie.com/blog/764432/VIDEO0026.mp4"][/video] Download VIDEO0026.3gp [video width="500"…
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Shed in the pipeline
We had the council's tree officer around yesterday to look at the tree we want to remove from our garden. It's a camphor laurel, an invasive non-native species. In much of NSW it's listed as a noxious…
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Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me
What's in the Federal Election for you YOUR complete guide to how the election policies of Labor and the Coalition will hit your hip pocket. via news.com.au Everything that's wrong with Australian pol…
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Rip off Australia
In Britain before the crash, "Rip off Britain" was a common trope for newspapers, comparing prices for identical products with the prices charged on the continent or across the Atlantic. There must be…
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Immigration in context
the issue of the boats (full set) via batteriesredux.blogspot.com Next time you're arguing with a redneck that refugees arriving by boat aren't a problem, show them this graph. See that huge ramp up?…
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Fat Man in a White Hat
I discovered Bill Buford having watching Fat Man in a White Hat, a seemingly-truncated BBC4 series broadcast earlier this year. It featured a passionate and highly-articulate American guy who'd thrown…
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Musical OCD
This came from my mate Mike, as a profound quote from his mate Dave. Women do not understand mans need to accumulate music, they seem to think it has something to do with a desire to listen to it. Thi…
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Cute ALP attack ad ripping off Rocky Horror
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Uncle Arch's Cookbook
One for the breakfast menu: Banana Rolls Cut bananas and peel, wrap each in a piece of bacon and dip in eggs and crumbs Cook in a quick oven for 10 minutes. From a sister housewife in NZ. via unclearc…
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Snatching a draw from the jaws of victory
Well I suppose a draw is good enough but we were 2 up! A good game for neutrals: 6 goals, Sydney up 2-0 at one point, then down 3-2 before equalising in the end. [video width="500" height="374" mp4="h…
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To Enhance Flavor, Just Add Water
Just to see what spirits themselves are like with no alcohol burn at all, I diluted a number of them with plain water by three to one, to cut their alcohol levels to the equivalent of a low-alcohol wi…
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Fruitloop shop
Rachel and I took Louis out to Flemington for our fruit and veg co-op shop this morning. Holly got a sleep in. Louis loved all the sights, smells and colours. As usual the ethnic grandmothers loved Lo…
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Oil: A History
via good.is Excellent visualisation
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SMH runs opinion without detailing who holds it
The watermelon party July 31, 2010 Green or red, it is not necessarily the Greens' political colours that should interest voters, but their economic philosophy, write Nick O'Malley and David Humphries…
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Beyonwiz DP-Lite PVR review
I bought the Beyonwiz DP-Lite PVR a few weeks ago so I thought I'd write up my impressions of it. It's important to understand that I bought this after having used MythTV mostly happily for about 4 ye…
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Saint Paul's Letter to the Electorates: Chapter 3
iii) 'Blessed are those who dig in the earth and profiteth from the treasure therein, for they shall see me afterwards. xiv) For Gough begat Malcolm and Malcolm begat Bob. And Bob begat Paul, although…
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Babi Guling: Balinese suckling pig
We finally made it beyond the immediate surrounds of the hotel and out to Ubud where we visited the legendary Ibu Oka for Babi Guling, roast suckling pig. it was... sensational!
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Complaint Reference: ACMA278584515
A great example of how arbitrary our current Internet censorship is, and it's the model for the new censorship regime. Somehow describing in detail how to make hash brownies is not "detailed instructi…
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Flying to Bali
So the flight to Bali was relatively uneventful. Surprisingly Louis was fine on the flight. He'd developed a snotty nose the night before the flight, so we were expecting the worst, but in the event h…
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Bob & Blanche, Jeff Tracy & Lady Penelope
Thunderbirds are go! Watching Channel Ten's interview with Bob Hawke and the misses last night it struck me where I'd seen them before... via Crikey It's uncanny! Now we just need International Rescue…
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Goodbye MythTV, hello Beyonwiz
Over the last few months I've had a number of hardware problems with my MythTV server. The machine itself locked up fairly regularly, and there's been big problems with the driver for the dual-tuner c…
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Revenge is a dish best served cold.
via fuckyeahdementia.com Octopus, however, benefits from accompaniments.
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Reverse stereotype
via fuckyeahdementia.com
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Lotek - CTRL ALT DEL
via youtube.com Brilliant!
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Who killed more people?
via biomechanic.tumblr.com
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Dear left-wing ALP voters: read this
Dear deluded fools left-wing ALP voters, I have a bunch of friends who perversely vote for the Australian Labor Party while professing views diametrically opposite those the party actually implements.…
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Demon baby!
And then a cute one. [video width="640" height="480" mp4="https://media.contractorpermie.com/blog/764066/VIDEO0011.mp4"][/video] Download VIDEO0011.3gp
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World Cup 2010 for Louis
Gripping.
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Bacon & egg pie with chilli jam
At the little cafe on Unwins Bridge Road around the corner from Sydenham Station. Louis had mashed banana, prunes and yoghurt. I had the amazing bacon and egg pie, fresh from the oven. Wow! Cafe sound…
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Louis and Holly meet Tim Cahill
This time it was the Adidas store and both Holly and Louis got to meet Tim. Apparently tonight's Channel 7 news will have Louis!
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Misleading children's toy packaging
No way is that kid aged 2+. (Yes, I'm getting bored with bath time. Louis still quite happy. I want new toys.)
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Tim Cahill: Follow your dreams
Just got to meet Tim Cahill and he signed Louis' ball.
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New Australians, 2009
via i.imgur.com This improves on the previous one by using population increase instead of immigration vs static population.
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Boat people: this is what you are “anxious” about
via crikey.com.au
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Careful with that dog whistle Julia
As part of her cleanup of issues the government was getting slammed with, Julia's looking at immigration and refugees next. She's given every indication that her approach will pander to the braying ra…
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Wired baby monitor?
Baby monitors suck. Despite claiming to be "digital" and using the 2.4GHz frequency range, they don't actually seem to use spread spectrum radio technology. As a result you get terrible interference i…
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Ellinor's first birthday party
Birthday party in Dulwich Hill. [video width="640" height="480" mp4="https://media.contractorpermie.com/blog/764342/VIDEO0006.mp4"][/video] Download VIDEO0006.3gp
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Just spent up big on Mexican & Indian food
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Breakfast at Martini's
Louis and I have done swimming, now brekkie at my fave Newtown cafe. I've been coming here for, I think, at least 13 years.
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Yes I see Julia has had much more important things to focus on than twitter
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Can sneezing really help treat depression? | Crikey
Can sneezing really help treat depression? by Amber Jamieson MP Andrew Robb writes in Crikey today about his own personal battle with depression. One quote in particular caught our eye: I employed var…
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Found in our letterbox. WTF?
Iain too, it seems
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View from my pimp's 47th floor office
Recruiter's drinks.
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I hate 24 hour news channels
So the ABC is launching "ABC News 24". Full marks for the totally unique name. I want to have a kvetch about 24 news channels. My pattern of use of these channels, I suspect, isn't that different from…
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PhotoshopDisasters: When I think of portable generators I always think of one-legged women in S&M gear
When I think of portable generators I always think of one-legged women in S&M gear. I mean, duh. via photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com
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The High Road - Broken Bells
This track is a surprising little earworm. Starts off very MoR, like something Oasis would do if they were even duller. It gets better. http://open.spotify.com/track/5cwN1htZyoWqZCc33f3RfE
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One thing about the NBN that annoys me
One of the things that's annoying me about all the NBN talk is the insistence on metro-equivalent services in regional and remote areas, as though this is a reasonable thing to require. I live in the…
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Disable the Same Origin Policy in Firefox
Browser impose the Same origin policy on JavaScript running inside a web page. It means that your code cannot access a resource through XMLHttpRequest that belongs on another server, even when it's in…
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De-obfuscate Omniture's JavaScript part 2
After my last post an anonymous email arrived with an even better mechanism to de-obfuscate Omniture's code, including the line-noise base s_code. I currently have a real need to be able to understand…
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Sneaky trick to de-obfuscate Omniture JavaScript plugins
My current job involves working extensively with Omniture products. The company has an annoying habit of secrecy, with documentation only available on request for many aspects of their products. They…
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Jeremy Champion of Connect Digital: welcome to the shitlist
It's no secret I'm no fan of recruitment consultants. They're up there with estate agents in being leeches on society that provide no value while scraping off their percentage. Their inability to unde…
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UI fail from Exetel
Work is providing me a mobile, so I went to cancel my phone with Exetel. Unfortunately this is the UI you see. So first of all, you can helpfully cancel it in the past. But then the button is labelled…
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Josephine's Cheese: Terrible packaging
Josephine's Cheese, given your site has no contact information, and doesn't even display the product I bought, I'll have to howl into the aether and assume you'll find it when I SEO your arse (given G…
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Android, six months on
So I've been using the Google Android phone for about six months now, and it's about time I reflected on how it's gone. Here's a bit of a rambling review. The hardware The G1 hardware is pretty limite…
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Who should get my Haiti donation?
I've got a bit of a dilemma. I want to give some money for disaster relief in Haiti following the terrible earthquake. Problem is, none of the relief organisations active in Haiti meet my criteria for…
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Getting rid of my landline
I'm getting rid of my landline. And no, not just to avoid the Telstra tax, but because the people who call land lines have no social graces. The only people who call landlines are old people and telem…