suzuki hayabusa 1300 wallpaper

this is a very nice wallpaper if you like motorbikes. first one is for widescreen. second for non-widescreen.

baby koala

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=dNSAuY5bo2A

"was she a pinky, when you...?"
"no, no.."
"she had fur?"
"yeah. but not... she's still not fully furred"
"okay"
"she still hasn't got all her bum fluff on her yet"


lolz

erotic hardware

Caps lock must die part 2

I guess I didn't explain that very well. If you're like me and you hate accidentally hitting caps lock and THEN START tYPING LIKE tHIS then swear and backspace and retype again then you should try my new web site called Caps Lock Must Die (url http://randomibis.com/capslockmustdie/). If you follow the instructions on that page you can map your capslock key to another key such as Ctrl (my preference). It's also handy and ergonomic to have Ctrl right by your little finger I think.

injustice

Carnivale: this is possibly the best tv show ever. and that's including season one of heroes. just watched the final episode. feeling a little stunned.

apparently it was cancelled after two seasons (there were six seasons planned) due to poor ratings. bummer. unsurprisingly internet geeks couldn't bring it back. not even this guy.

Season 1 torrent
Season 2 torrent

Caps lock must die

Caps lock must die. Seriously.

opportunistic sponsorship deals

Remember when the ASTRA awards where sponsored by Holden Astra? This intrigued me sufficiently that I've made it a hobby to notice other opportunistic advertising campaigns. I will share them with you:

• DHL sponsoring Surf Lifesaving. Now take a look at DHL corporate colours. A coincidence?. Altruistic? Opportunistic?
  
  
• I don't have a good link but V energy drink has a show on channel V. (Though arguably they would have anyway hence this one is lame).
  
  

Do you know any more?

interesting

http://cubo.cc/

tina fey on hillary clinton on snl

Update: here's the nbc approved version complete with ad.

"bitch is the new black"



Audio only youtube version. I guess you can't put nbc clips on youtube these days.

songza

songza. it's like the jukebox of all music. enjoy it before it gets closed down.

my three girls

 
doing their thing

a short list of existential firefox plugins (for developers)

tonight was my work farewell dinner. before we left the house i played a little psychic ipod (the new version of psychic stereo):

prompt: my 'omen song' for tonight
response: woody guthrie - so long it's been good to know ya (youtube) (lyrics)

prompt: milly's 'omen song' tonight
response: the beach boys - sloop john b (youtube) (lyrics)

prompt: my advice for the future
response: phil ochs - when I'm gone (youtube) (lyrics)

prompt: milly's advice for the future
response: nelly furtado - i'm like a bird (youtube) (lyrics)

seriously.


ps, apologies for the popup spam

pps, i'm diggin on the phil ochs:

There's no place in this world where I'll belong when I'm gone
And I won't know the right from the wrong when I'm gone
And you won't find me singin' on this song when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

BryantAtDell

i'm a little disapointed that BryantAtDell didn't get back to me re dell's labour policies. but you can see he's quite busy. oh and a correction: it was malaysian factory workers, not chinese. i'm happy with my dell, it will be especially great in winter as a leg warmer. even still I'm wondering where I'd be if these were out a month earlier. multi-touch tempts. things I like about my new computer:

• the screen is great (I got the upgraded screen, it's 1680 x 1050)
• it lets me log in my swiping my finger
• handy tv out for watching yr torrents
• hdmi out (haven't used yet due to my nice tv already shipped to brisneyland)
• windows media center with remote control (well actually I'm not using it but it seems like it might be nifty)
• vista. nice job bill, vista is cool. I like windows+tab. and lots of other things
• sitting on couch while blogging/emailing/feed reading/etc. wireless is good.
• it's speedy (I've been using hand-me-down computers for quite a while) and the nvidia 8600M graphics just in case I want to play some games
• double layer dvd burner slot drive

things that could be improved:

• I wish there was a headphone jack on the side. there are two jacks both on the front under the track pad. if you're hooked up to the tv it would be better to have an audio out on the side so it's out of the way. (problem goes away with hdmi though)
• the touch sensitive volume and meda controls are a little insensitive to my touches. give me tactile buttons next time
• well I guess in summer the leg warming thing isn't so great
• the hard drive makes little scratchy noises. i've googled and found that it's "normal". it's not too bad but would be nice if it was a little quieter
• whenever i move my itunes and my picasa i loose all my playlists and photo albums/tags. this might be my own fault for doing it wrong but i'm miffed.

it is an XPS M1530

a short list of essential firefox plugins (for developers)

Firebug
Web Developer (toolbar)
Save as Image (I like it better than Screengrab)

Well you probably already knew the first two, but checkout Save as Image if you don't already have it. Also shortlisted is ColorZilla but I've not installed it. I'd like one that was just a colour dropper and less confusing UI wise. Attention Chris Pederick, how about putting a colour dropper into Web Developer?

Update:
I forgot IE Tab.

I enjoyed this guys views on the macbook air

http://wilshipley.com/blog/2008/01/macbook-air-haters-suck-my-dick.html

Some journalists get so close to the truth it hurts, yet miss the large print. "OMG! The unit is all sealed and self-contained like the iPod!"

Yes... the iPod. That huge failure. Also, the iPhone. Stunning disappointment that it was. I mean, jeebus, why would Apple make ANOTHER device incredibly simple? Clearly the market has spoken, and it wants tons of ports and screws and geegaws and flippers... no, wait, no it doesn't.

http://wilshipley.com/blog/2008/02/macbook-air-rambling-first-impressions.html

one more post...

I wanted to tell you about my friend, lets call him meangreen. he's got one of the top ten coolest jobs I can think of at the moment. his job is to drive around queensland in holden astra loaded with eighteen terrabytes of disk, a multidirectional camera rig mounted on a pole sticking up through the roof of the car. he gets put up in hotels and has a company expense card. can you guess? google. specifically google street view. he said he found the job advertised on google's web site and called up. they said, hey you're the first applicant, it's only been advertised for about thirty minutes. so, hot tip, australia's getting google street view. hotter tip, if you know meangreen, see if you can find out when he's scheduled to drive by your house or favourite landmark. you could wave for the cameras. or make a sign. be creative.

dell's chinese factory workers work on the weekend?

angus^[1] would not approve.

[1] an antiglobalisation, anticonsumerist guy I had a conversation with on the way to the opera house

ps, sorry about the blogostorm today. a tip for successful blogging: post at regular intervals. don't overwhelm your readers with a flood of posts (especially in between long silences).

kimya dawson

one good thing about juno is kimya dawson:

It was a Gayageum

And a very nice one too. Sounds like this (played by Miss Korea 2006): I'm guesing this isn't a traditional tune:

panda bear equals

a). the beach boys crossed with kid A crossed with a mellowed out accoustic version of the stone roses. but not quite. b). my new favourite band?

blue-ray wins format war against hd-dvd

I hope the guy who invented betamax was also involved somehow in the design of blueray. he's walking tall for the first time in thirty years or so. his wife has a small happy tear.

panda bear

may indeed be very good. yep. http://www.last.fm/music/Panda+Bear/_/Bros

japanese for comb over

I learned this yesterday. the (or a) japanese term for comb over is "barcode". heh heh.

election campaigning in south korea involves a lot of people like this dancing on street corners to their candidate's theme songs. the music is loud. the dancers always seem to be in a good mood. these guys are supporting candidate two who in fact was elected.

random building somewhere or other

pasta in an icecream cone

please enjoy the menu

mini review

28 weeks later. omg. cool.

fractal veges

fractal veges are cool

joanna news

joanna hangs with andy samberg

joanna is indeed very good (stereogum review)

I saw her two shows at the sydney opera house. it was an amazing experience: first up was Ys, start to finish, with the orchestra, her banjo guy and her drummer. her voice sounds better than it does on cd and I think better than it did twelve months ago I think. she's more confident now in her vocal ability it seems. van dyke parks' over-showy orchestration annoys me a little and some of the louder orchestral sections felt a tiny bit forced or over-done, but I try to go with it. the banjo and tambura (lutey looking mandolin type of thing) was perfect. the sound (at the opera house, who would have thought) was utterly perfect. her drummer does quite a bit of backing vocal which sounds pretty good though his style of playing the percussion feels a little pretentious. all this aside, hearing Ys performed from start to finish with orchestra at the opera house is probably the best thing I've ever seen. I don't think anyone who was there will forget it. of course sawdust and diamonds (sans dyke parks) is a highlight. during only skin bjork (sitting near us but on a different level) is on the edge of her seat and grinning. after cosmia there is an interval. then she's back which her two band members for a set of milk eyed mender songs and new songs. peach, plum pear gets a brilliant new arrangement with lots of tambura. there's a brand new untitled tune with a country music feel, esame (not it's official name, she said it was untitled) done solo (which is turning into one of my favourites) and colleen from the EP. a short encore, sadie (skipped on the friday show) and inflammatory writ and we're filing out onto the concrete steps into circular quay. nerds are trying to convince sound techs to give them the setlist. it's rumoured that after the show there was a sing along backstage with Bjork, the Arcade fire, Andrew Bird and Joanna. But surely it's just a rumour, what with Bjork's sore throat and all. One disappointment, Joanna wore the same two dresses both nights! we'd have liked to see the red one from BAM think!

juno

I saw juno. it was pretty good. not as good as say napoleon dynamite but then again what is.

me doing cool stuff

 

 

 

Obama FTW

based on the opinions of Joanna Newsom, Joanna Newsom's percussionist, the xkcd guy and this rodent I have decided to endorse Obama for president. US readers, please take note.

some jcu related news

1. the vice chancellor has a blog. I get the feeling it's not going to be too exciting. I'd like to see her holiday snaps, photos of pets, thoughts on britney, obama, angelina. probably not going to happen.

2. ex-deputy-vice chancellor (allegedly) turns out to be a creepy perve. nice one harry.

3. after feb 29th I won't be there

what they said

i mean other bloggers

I guess I have a few things to add. but it will wait.

pics

(I suppose I should use flickr)



highway stop cuisine

no smoking

It's a temple near the ocean near Pusan

and more...

the one with the good hair is one of the presidential candiates (number 6 i think). i heard that he lost.

police harley

puppies for sale

more pics

it's a giant mailbox but real

soccer stadium near ulsan

the dog lives on the roof

in rainbows live

see here (via stereogum). actually I got bored of that. but the album is great. i like to skip the first three tracks. it's not that they are bad songs, just that from track four on the album is amazing.

my street is flooded

I don't think I've ever seen water get this high. and it's still raining!

this surprised me

a woman at my work her dog is getting acupuncture. he's a cocker spaniel.

daejon street

Tokyo

asimo seems a little tense don't you think?

giant spider. roppongi.

mori tower with spider.

m with penguins. shinjuku.

how long would you queue for a doughnut? not as long as these people, i'll wager. shinjuku.

manic horses. tokyo disney.

happy new year gentle readers

I was imagining that I would keep you posted during my travels via free wifi and my ipod touch. Unfortunately free wifi was a lot scarcer in Japan, South Korea and London than I thought it would be. So anyway I am home now after six weeks of living out of a pack. I'll put some photos up when I can though at the moment I'm hindered by the fact that my PC seems to have died in its sleep sometime over the holiday season. Possibly time to buy a new one.

Bzzzzz. The sound of the props on the way to cairns.

boarding

Just emailed toki about car prospect. First boarding call. Ciao. Next
stop cairns. Then Tokyo.

journey begins

Woke up about seven. Some last minute errands and I'm on the bike with
giant pack on my back. Surprisingly not too bad. I park bike in j's
yard. Cover it and lock it. Pick up t's awesome Xmas card from the
bench top vice and walk to airport. It's about fifteen minutes but
warm and sweaty with pack. Check in and realize i'm ninety minutes
early. Wait ages for a coffee. Move through security where the qantas
hotspot signal is strong enough. See connie who is going to Melbourne.
Digging iPod touch, kid a, free wifi. Excited to see everyone in
cairns especially milly. She was a little frantic on phone this
morning. Wow just got a call about Toki's Beemer. Ten mins later
would have been too late.

dilemma

if I watch the sigur ros documentary will it make it harder to hold onto my conviction that they are in fact not human but actually aliens or perhaps some type of higher beings from a another plane of existence? note that seeing them perform live did not introduce any doubts instead it made it more obvious that this must be the case

gadgets: what might have made the kindle better

Kindle - It's a book reader from Amazon. Downloads books via mobile phone networks.

• Colour
• If it was $99 instead of $399
• If it looked more like an iPhone and less like a prop from low budget 1970s scifi movie
• A touch screen instead of 600 buttons
• A proper web browser

gadgets: what we all need - a computer you can cuddle

The Chumby

"couple" email addresses

do you know any of those? usually something like baz-n-sheila@somelocalisp.net? aren't they quaint. not the best for signing up to rsvp though. and what happens if baz and sheila break up? calamity.

more poker

I'm short stacked, flop top pair (Jacks), go all in and get called by King high. turn is a King and I'm going home. But... unlucky beat so I don't feel too bad, plus I'm 19th, my first top 20 finish. Another couple of minutes I'd have been top 16 aka "in the points"

top five worst things about riding your motorcycle in the rain

I have learnt this today.

• 6. Poor visibility as your visor becomes covered with water
• 5. Driving through extra water thrown up by oncoming semi-trailers
  
• 4. Needle sharp drops of water hitting your exposed neck
• 3. Wondering if your the camera in your jacket pocket or the phone in your pants pocket will survive
• 2. The moment when water soaks through your jeans to your privates
• 1. The moment (some time later) when water soaks down underneath your butt

Best thing:

• Hot shower and cup of tea when you get home
  

calligraphy robot

I like it

monday night

I'm small blind, I limp in with 6 7 off suit. flop is 3 5 7. dude goes all in. everyone folds. I have him covered but only just. somehow I feel he hasn't flopped a straight and call. he's got K 6. my sevens hold, and bam I just about double up. it's my first time putting someone out.

dude goes all in pre flop with a low pair. For some reason I fold A Q. Another guy calls with A J. An ace hits on the flop. I miss a chance to triple up. Lesson: consider playing A Q pre-flop!

I'm on J 5 and a jack hits on the flop. I raise and get called. river is a 5. I slow play and make a minimum raise as dude (K J) hits two pair on the river and goes all in. I'm going home. Lesson: don't muck around with two pair on the turn. I go all in then he probably folds and I'm in the top 16.

(my third apl game and second at the riverside tavern. I made the top 25, actually probably closer to top 20, which was my best effort by a long shot).

in case you can't get enough feist

feist live on SNL via stereogum

owliness

this morning

If you've ever been to the Parkside Post Office (my local) you'll know the guy who runs it is a bit of a character (read nutjob). He's not entirely unlikeable though.

Post Office guy: Can I help you?
Me: Yeah, I have some registered mail to pick up.
PG: (Get's it) Oh, right, oh I have to tell you I took the tickets out and sold them. Tickets right?
Me: (Nod)
PG: (To post office woman). What do you reckon, eh? I took the tickets. Ha ha. Just a blank piece of paper in here now.
Post Office woman: (uncomfortable smile)
Me: Right, yeah. I hope not.
PG: You going to see some of that "rock-n-roll" music I bet. Or were going. Ha ha.
Me: Actually it's a harp playing folk singer accompanied by the Sydney Symphony at the Opera House. You might like it!
PG: Oh well a good friend of mine is an Opera singer.
Me: O-kay.
PG: The harp is a good instrument played well.
Me: Indeed it is.
PG: Sign here. And can I see some ID.
Me: (Leaving) This better not be a red light camera fine...

aussie hip hop no longer cringeworthy

in fact it's damn good.
Hilltop Hoods: Bliss 'n' Eso: Urthboy (a few years old but I like it): Joel Turner and friends. Featuring Brisneyland (it gets better after the intro and okay the chorus sucks): Oldy but a goody: For some more Hilltop Hoods live...

Still waiting for the Australian Mike Skinner though. But he might be out there. Come forth Aussie Mike Skinner...

andrew bird and sufjan stevens in brisbane on the same night

sufjan at the tivoli. andy at the zoo. what cruel and twisted booking agent made this happen! aahhhh! (actually I probably can't get to either show..)

best and worst things about the movie "proof"

best: gwyneth paltrow spends a lot of time in a white singlet and no bra.

worst: we are supposed to believe jake gyllenhaal is a maths geek.

disclaimer: i haven't seen the whole movie.

this is making me very happy

http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/alphasongs.html

cool things you can do with twitter

See here

what's new: twitter

if this blog just isn't enough then perhaps what you need is a subscription to my twitter feed. (also see new widget in sidebar). also I'm on facebook now if you wanna give me a poke (oo er!)

brisneyland

forget tired old "Brisvegas", I now dub thy venerable Great South East "Brisneyland"

(remember, you heard it here first)

Also, can someone please explain the difference between a "storm cell" and a plain old storm?

update on speaker cable challenge with james randi

It's all off. apparently the company will not provide a set of their cables for use in such a test. and the dude who was up for the challenge doesn't want to buy his own set. people are getting a little worked up.

A glimpse into the future of music

Vocaloid

1. Create a virtual pop group using Vocaloid in the style of say the Spice Girls.
2. Model the girls in 3d have them appear in sexy videos using computer animation. (Alternatively hire the guys who did the Gorillaz videos)
3. Profit.

Actually this probably already happened in Japan, not sure.



Vocaloid on YouTube


There is a downloadable demo of Vocaloid 2, recently available with English voices. See here for details and demo tracks like this one where Lola sounds quite a bit like Jimmy Somerville. The demo version only sings the words "I", "love", "you", "baby" which should be enough for at least the first two singles.

poor mama hedgehog

ouchy.

I'm still on about Idol:

Natalie: You're talented and cute. Why do they pick on you so much? How about some Missy Higgins?

Marty: Quit the show, get an agent and a band and go on tour with Xavier Rudd/John Butler/Pete Murray/Josh Pyke/Beautiful Girls/Jack Johnson etc.

Hair boy: The Sting song was okay but it's time to go.

Trumpet boy: I thought you sucked until tonight. Now you are good. Weird. But keep it up. No more Buble crap please.

idol

Brought to you by Matt Corby:

The Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice Matt's version

Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie Matt's version (coming soon to YouTube).

The Bedouin Song - Lior More Matt...

Another random Idol highlight:

astronomy with joanna

and, Emily - I saw you last night
by the river
I dreamed you were skipping little stones across
the surface of the water
frowning at the angle where they were lost,
and slipped under forever,
in a mud-cloud, mica-spangled,
like the sky'd been breathing on a mirror

anyhow - I sat by your side,
by the water
you taught me the names of the stars overhead
that I wrote down in my ledger
tho all I knew of the rote universe
were those pleiades loosed in december
I promised you I‘d set them to verse
so I'd always remember

that the meteorite is a source of the light
and the meteor's just what we see
and the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee

and the meteorite's just what causes the light
and the meteor's how it's perceived
and the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee

On Emily: Like every other song on this record, "Emily" is deeply biographical. The Emily in the song is my sister, who's an astrophysicist; the narrator is myself, who is not an astrophysicist. Emily is the wanderer; she lives in Argentina and sometimes New Zealand. I'm not a wanderer, which is funny because I'm on tour half the time. I'm a home, hearth and family kind of person.

On Ys: There were four very big things that happened in my life in this particular year, and so four of the songs are about these things. The fifth song, "Only Skin", was an effort to talk about the connections between the events.

for more: milky moon and pitchfork.

ASIMO IS COMING!

Support act: AWESOM-O.

baby hedgehog

sorry, couldn't resist

this is a bit special

bruce springsteen keeps the car running with arcade fire. you have to listen for the dude in audience who gets VERY excited. via stereogum

Randi's comments on the matter

see here

James Randi's Great Speaker Cable Challenge

I shall be watching this closely.

$7,250 Speaker Cables Turn You Into a Dancin' Fool

Transparent Opus Speaker Cables Bring You Audio Nirvana for $43,000 a Pair

James Randi Offers $1 Million If Audiophiles Can Prove $7250 Speaker Cables Are Better

Pear Cable CEO Calls James Randi's $1 Million Offer a Hoax

Journalist Accepts $1 Million Challenge: Do $7250 Cables Sound Better or Not?

wow

wing suit base jumping

I paid two pounds

radiohead says "pay whatever you want for our latest album"

New J-Nu

It's a new song from Joanna Newsom called Esame. Some lyrics here.

a little something

http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/3631897/

for the cultured: 'a short film prequel to the new wes anderson'

for the rest of you: 'natalie portman gets naked'

New Buffalo

I was in the front row. It was nice. She mostly did new songs but a couple of older ones, She did "Yes", which she described as being about sex, and this one: Sally played piano mostly with a couple of songs on a classical guitar, She was accompanied by Jessica who played percussion, a little keyboard, cello and backing vocals. She seemed a little nervous but that's kind of her style. The crowd gave her a pretty good response I think. The new songs went pretty well. "I'm the drunk and you're the star" was very memorable as was "You've gone my friend". "Cheer Me Up Thank You" is my new favourite. There were some sampled vocals (the ah ah ahh part) but Jessica sang the bom bom bom part and it was super sweet. I didn't record that sadly but here is the video:

me in london kinda

see here. you can see my coffee table, Jeremy Ruston, Robbie, and a little bit of the london skyline. weirdly I am mirror reversed - I think due to the coriolis effect.

Also check out this, it's Saq and Phil interviewing Jeremy.

summer heights high = pure genius

watched ep 2 last night. this show is utterly brilliant. best
australian tv ever.
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=summer+heights+high&search=Search

grinderman pt 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuDP7c3Zd8I

grinderman = awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxjjrlsnlhM

TV tip: Summer Heights High

Download here. It's like a Christoper Guest mockumentary but set in an Australian school with one very talented guy (the writer) playing: a. camp drama teacher, b. tongan(?) tough kid, c. private school exchange girl.

this deserves part marks, right?

automatic mario

if you like mario and you''re bored or can't sleep you can watch these

bloxorz

It's a very cool flash puzzle game. bloxorz.

Arf, arf, do the doggy bounce

Heh heh. A great episode. Better than last couple of episodes. Sadly it was the season finale ... :( so no more Flight of the Chonchords for a while.

can the world get enough of 1234?

First it was my blog ;), then ebay. Now it's the new ipod nano. What next? Coke? I am picturing monster royalty cheques coming the way of Sally Seltman, who by the way I have tickets to see on Wednesday. She's supporting Paul Kelly. And, next Friday, Milly & I are seeing comedian and Flight of the Conchords star, Arj Barker in Thuringowa!. I am happy as a clam in chowder.