The Middle East

http://www.myspace.com/visitthemiddleeast

Dave told me they were good ages ago but I had no freakin idea. They are incredible. Wish I had found out sooner. I think they might have broken up just recently.

Fwd: Suggested Movember Donation Email Wording

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: no.reply@movember.com <no.reply@movember.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 8:24 AM
Subject: Suggested Movember Donation Email Wording
To: "simon.baird@gmail.com" <simon.baird@gmail.com>

Hey Mo Bro,

The easiest way to get people to donate to your moustache growing efforts is to send them an email or message directing them to the 'Donate' part of the Movember website where they just enter the donation amount and their credit card or PayPal details.

Below is some suggested wording you can copy and paste into an email or networking application message and send it off. Too easy!

Good luck

.............................

Hi All,

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'm growing a Mo. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about tackling men's health issues and being proactive in the fight against men's depression and prostate cancer.

To donate to my Mo you can either:

1. Click this link https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1637201&country=au and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account, or
2. Write a cheque payable to 'Movember Foundation', referencing my Registration Number 1637201 and mailing it to:

                                            Movember Foundation
                                            PO Box 292
                                            Prahran VIC 3181

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

Did you know:

• Depression affects 1 in 6 men....most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.
• Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who will die from breast cancer annually.

For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had and can check out the details at: [ Fundraising Outcomes ].

Movember culminates at the end of month Gala Partés. If you would like to be part of this great night you'll need to purchase a [ Gala Parté Ticket ].

Thanks for your support Simon.

More information is available at http://www.movember.com/.

 

Movember is proudly grown by Holden and Schick.

Movember is proud partners with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative.

since no-one made fun of my last attempt at poetry...

wiping sticky fingermarks
little ones
off my iphone
sad
it will be a long time before they come back

it was going to
be a haiku but that was
way too difficult


ps, actually they will be back in december :)

spider catches bird

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/10/23/11601_local-news.html

Yum: A huge spider devours a bird in Atherton, near Cairns.

i plot and annotate my failed geohash attempt using google maps

google maps is pretty cool.

here it is.

i get within 2.4 km.

pen spinning

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1q7s4E94-No

more clouds

I may not have uploaded it -- it drags on a bit long and the clouds aren't as good as in the previous video -- but for the fact that purely by chance the song ends exactly at sundown. And if you have a little imagination the clouds puff in sync with the music in some places. And the sunset is quite nice. Without further ado...
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OTtzASFfdCc

Original, arguably better video here:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=__pDycw1Epw

yesterdays geohash location

in google maps (zoom in if you wanna see the dirt roads described in previous post)

official calculator

wtf?

fail point two

Fail point one was about a 25 minute bike ride. Quite enjoyable. Cruising along the river. Sunset. Afternoon traffic thinning. Sealed road except for about 50 m. Fail point two however was an adventure. To get here I back-tracked and went along the dam and then along some soft dirt and gravel corrugated roads that my bike was not made for, stopping several times to remove glove and consult iPhone for directions. It got dark rapidly. There are some houses out there and I thought I could hear banjos if you know what I mean. Also I was nearly out of fuel and imagining what it would be like to hit some extra soft gravel and drop the bike. Then a weird bird came at me. It was guarding some horse poo on the road and seriously wanted to attack me. I could sense its irrational hatred. It loomed in my headlights like a creature from silent hill one. And there was some unexplained mist or fog in the distance that I didn't feel like stopping to investigate. So I was a tiny bit glad to find that last gate. Even if it said 'welcome geohashers' instead of 'trespassers prosecuted' I might have been ready to get the hell out of there. And now I realise I had quite a ways to go down the spooky dirt road of unknown quality. Not to mention the walk to the geohash location which seemed to be 100 or 200 m off the road. I'll give you the gmap links tomorrow. Can't seem to find the copy and paste button... ;)

fail point one

I have only just learned the screenshot trick so this was done after the fact. But trust me. Red pin is the target location. Purple is locked gate.

post-fail refuel

geohash fail-abort

geohash fail-retry

cali lewis deboxes her new macbook pro

http://www.geekbrief.tv/gbtv-448-geekbrieftv

mr peterson freaked out

http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/comics/th/?currentComic=147

piglet and tigger

radio

This is what i heard while driving into town today:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bx0VmkYMV8
It's Wake Up, Arcade Fire's set opener at Enmore (only recorded properly by Triple J). It was to promote the fact that the whole show will be played on ABC2 tonight at 10pm. (Note well, music fans).

(I went to the bank and came back in time for...)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=UoaeEAdDv-c
Midnight Madness. This song was blowing my mind, especially the buildup around 2:40, and filling me with unexpected joie de vivre/musique. I didn't know what it was and there was no back announce. I thought it was called Midnight Mass so after fruitless searching I found there is a playlist. Chemical Brothers. Of course.

Then there was news followed by this:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=yfDvxCPjJBQ
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NlGcLRLwyRQ
I was already pretty much in love with Soko after "I'll keel 'eur" but this ukelele song on the radio struck me as so beautiful my heart became dandelion fluff. (I guess I was feeling a raw emotionally. I said goodbye to two cats in two days. And I'm moving, but not to Brisbane). Here are the lyrics. She likes Daniel Johnston.

So now I'm parking the car and this comes on:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FSMF3h7LE2Q
It's Wide Open Road, The Triffids

Sometimes I love Triple J.

rambly

http://rambly.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/otono/
http://rambly.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/suicide-alley/

more fleet foxes

http://vimeo.com/1851415

doesn't he look a bit like daniel johns?

sarah silverman removes bra

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1832128

the bailout reasoning explained by...

obama:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/1/171235/745/353/616960

palin (watch the whole vid, first part is tina fey, second part is palin):
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4iQ

you think your synths are oldschool?

... steam powered electronica:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrierdetect/2900256514/

reblog

tim's first solo flight (plane solo)

some dude playing drums (drum solo)

motivational

"look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself 'what do i want to do every day for the rest of your life?' do that. i promise you can monetise that shit. if you love alf? do an alf blog. you collect smurfs? smurf it up. whatever you need to do, do it. so many people are talking about 'i can't monetise'... it's coming. stop crying. and just keep hustling. hustle is the most important word. ever. and that's what you need to do"

"how do you get money to do what you love? you don't. right? i lost a shit load of money when i started doing what i loved. what you do is you position yourself to succeed. so for example, if you're doing something else and you want to do this thing you love, you do it after hours. you work nine to six, you get home, you kiss the dog and you go to town. right? i mean you start building your equity and your brand and whatever you're trying to accomplish. after hours. everybody has time. stop watching fucking lost... so, you know what i mean? if you want this, if you want bling bling, if you want to buy the jets, if you want to do shit? work. that's how you get it"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhqZ0RU95d4

Gary Vaynerchuk

The Hollowmen on ABC by Working Dog

This is my favourite TV show at the moment. It's a bit like a modern day 'Yes Minister' but sharper and there's no Minister and no laugh track. It targets spin makers the way Frontline targeted tabloid TV journalists but it's so much better than Frontline was (at least from what I remember). The writing and acting is outstanding. This show is an oasis in the bleak landscape of Australian comedy TV and the best thing since Summer Heights High. Linkage:

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/default2.htm?seriesId=2349423

http://www.mininova.org/search/hollowmen/seeds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollowmen

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/hollowmen/#/home

fleet foxes

if a younger Paul Simon lived in the mountains instead of new york and grew a beard... he might sound a bit like fleet foxes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu_3RS2rO78

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gke4USY8EE

after

before

wall-e

the first third of the movie is pure brilliance. the rest is good too. i liked it better than dark night. ♥ pixar.

"Matty earned the Virgin Graticule achievement"

http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/2008-09-20_-19_146

have a look at the sign on the back of the truck... 66 wheeler?

advertising

i've seen most of these before:

i'm a mac ads us version (part 1)
i'm a mac ads us version (part 2)

but for some reason i never knew they made UK versions:

i'm a mac ads uk version with mitchell and webb

these are new:

i'm a pc 1
i'm a pc 2
i'm a pc 3

these are just... weird (gates and seinfeld):

shoe circus
new family

just when you thought i was over it...

~> python
Python 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Jul 31 2008, 23:17:40) 
[GCC 4.1.3 20070929 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.2-16ubuntu2)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> a = []
>>> a[0] = 'foo' # FAIL!
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
IndexError: list assignment index out of range
>>>
~> irb
irb(main):001:0> a = []
=> []
irb(main):002:0> a[0] = 'foo'
=> "foo"
irb(main):003:0> a[5] = 'bar' # for extra credit...
=> "bar"
irb(main):004:0> a
=> ["foo", nil, nil, nil, nil, "bar"]
irb(main):005:0> exit
~>

I think that this speaks for itself, don't you... :)

(It's late on Friday afternoon. I'm procrastinating...)

(Yes I know I can use a.append('foo'). But this did come up in a real world scenario where append wasn't quite what I wanted).

Check the comments for some discussion...

current (musical) obsessions

(YouTube links)

• The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
• Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks
• MGMT - Kids
  

david foster wallace

is dead. i asked trevor about his t-shirt the other day and he said it's about infinite jest. okay, i said. maybe it was this one. then today i read about this guy who hung himself and he was a great writer. so turns out it was that same guy. it's probably a good book since trevor likes joanna newsom too.

clouds

It's just a little camera pointing out the window at work. Yesterday was a good day for clouds. Lots of variety. Notice the layers moving in opposite directions. This happens every day. Who knew? Here's where the camera is: http://tinyurl.com/4xs27o. Music by Nine Inch Nails and YouTube's AudioSwap.

boxhead

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=boxhead&btnG=Search&meta=

this is cool. it's a flash game. kinda like lego zombies.

you probably don't need me to post xkcd comics but...

it's kinda on topic :)

stevesy

http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/09/live-from-apples-lets-rock-event-in-san-francisco/

(you have to start at the bottom and read upwards)

LHC summed up

The 'standard model' of physics is pretty good. It describes twelve particles that make up everything. These particles have been detected in previous experiments and everyone agrees they are mostly understood. But the standard model it doesn't explain why there is mass. This is a fairly major detail when it comes to explaining the universe. The best theory we have to explain mass is the Higgs field theory. If the Higgs field theory is true then there exists a 13th particle called the Higgs particle. To make the particle appear you need lots of energy. No one has ever detected the Higgs particle but if it exists the LHC should be able to find it, perhaps tomorrow some time. If it does it will cause many physicist to jump around and make wild eyes at each other. If it can't find it then it means our best theories are probably wrong, though there is a good chance it will find something else that no-one expected. In any case.. jumping, wild eyes.

Disclaimer: I'm no physicist. But I watched this on SBS.

Update: Actually the standard model predicts the Higgs particle, so the above isn't exactly right semantically. But you get the idea.

Update 2: There is a live webcast starting at this time (5pm here).

Update 3: It might take a few weeks or months before they get that thing fully cranked. Today I believe they're just taking it for a little spin around the block in first gear.

Vim trick

1. Lets say you want to insert some text at an exact column. Try the following:

Put 100 spaces at the end of the line so that the | command works
100A<Space><Esc>

Move to the column you want
75|

Delete all those extra spaces and insert something
C

Tricky eh?


2. Suppose you wanted to record that as a macro so you could do it many times:

To record a macro in the q register:
qq0100A<Space><Esc>75|C",<Esc>0jq

Run it once
@q

Run it 10 times
10@q

iphone tricks or technology giving superpowers

http://nathanbowers.com/business/shazam/

i've rambled before about technology giving god-like powers. arthur c clarke once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. how far back in time would you have to go before each of these was indistinguishable from magic? discuss in the form of an essay:

• box of matches
• mirror
  
• nikko pen/sharpie
• motorbike
  
• aeroplane
  
• camera
• radio
• telephone
• tv
  
• gps
• youtube
• google maps
  
• streetview
• ipod shuffle
  
• iphone 3G
• teleporter machine
  

london eye > brisbane eye

london eye

brisbane eye

this game looks hot

mirrors edge

some music

Red Book Comics supporting The Panics at River Festival, Townsville: The Panics playing at River Festival, Townsville:

to my up the road neighbours

your unexpected horsey statue made be smile a lot! thank
you! he's from indonesia did you know.

"what a surprise"

it's for mothers, especially new mothers, especially one new mother.

'Milk Eyes' by The Grates from the album 'Teeth Lost, Hearts Won'.

Please support musicians and the music industry by paying for music.

i remember liking this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4_b8e4XAE
but i never knew it was kim deal. 1991.

experimental 3

I don't think they want me to embed. But with a little "view source" or "inspect element", there you go.

Via soundupload.com/. They want you to go to this link with loads of advertising I think. Still no volume control, but I like the player otherwise. Boomp3 still the winner on ease of use though. Nice work Boomp3. How about putting in a volume control?

tv recommendation: 30 rock

season 2. great tv. getting better with each episode. just watched this one:

experimental 2

Boomp3.com
If it works then that was pretty easy. Using boomp3.com. From Latvia.
Update: crap, no volume control.

experimental

For your enjoyment I'm going to try to post music that you can listen to right here in the blog. Here's an oldy but a goody. Recorded one night in my garage in November last year on a Zoom PS04. It's still one of the best things on my iPod. Featuring John on guitar vocals, Davy on drums and me on bass and Zooey the cat at the end if you listen closely. The bass part is a little flakey in parts but for a one (or maybe two) take job I'm happy with it. There's a nice growly tone as well. John and Davy sound amazing I think. Apologies if you heard this the last time I posted it.


Right click and put it on your iPod.

packing up at martas

ouch

i have somehow agreed to play indoor soccer. a team sport. and my team has no reserves which makes it hard to flake out if i don't feel up to it one night. i'm crap at it. i can control the ball. i can be aware of what's happening around me. but not at the same time. also i need about two minutes rest after each change of possession. but i guess i didn't embarrass myself too much. at least i did slightly better than the guy who had an epileptic seisure and went home in an ambulance. i was goalie for the first quarter. have you ever done a knee slide on astro-turf?

if you were ever in a restaurant and thought...

"this table cloth is just not doing it for me" then this might be the place for you...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/2777916722/in/set-72157606827275233/

brilliant.

"baby whale finds new boat to suckle"

http://news.google.com.au/news?hl=en&q=whale%20suckle&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn
he's on the telly now. live helicam. he's going from boat to boat. and his sucking is getting weaker and weaker. :.(

they found bigfoot?

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/08/14/bigfoot.body/
likely to be a hoax i suppose but maybe...

the crown is back...

Oh, I should also mention that we got Orri's crown back at Way Out West, it having been purloined by an over-eager fan-boy collector at Benecassim in Spain.  There had been an amusing thread on the 'board about Morrissey (who also played the same fest) supposedly nicking it, and someone had even gone as far photo-shopping it on the old pantomime dame's coiff.  As someone who used to attend to his lordship's PR needs, it tickled me enormously.  The queen is dead, so he has no need of Orri's beloved crown.

And more from my new favourite tour manager who this week name drops the likes of franz ferdinand and sonic youth.

i know the street view guy

i confirmed this tonight -- every single google street view photo from bundaberg north to cooktown (ie, the top three quarters of coastal queensland) was taken by my friend alex, aka meangreen -- he's the guy on the right here. and i believe he once met russell crowe

"he's on his phone! he's texting!"

http://failblog.org/2008/08/11/safety-fail-3/

sigur ros tour manager on the australian tour

See here:
http://dot.sigurros.com/wp/management-tour-blog/managers-tour-diary-australia/

this is an interesting read. he's quite articulate. some excerpts:

...the reason why Amiina have not been with us in Australia was because – ta-da-da-da! – Maria and Kjartan are having a baby!

well okay then. I guess that's cool. it's also revealed that the band will be performing as a four piece only in the near future.

on batman:

...mildly diverting hoo-ha with a wafer-thin patina of substance

on barry's of melbourne:

... the place is kind of cavernous and heaving but without any obvious identity, just a load of young kids on the piss.

plus:

The whistling at the end of Festival on the album was also recorded on I-phone and features Georg and Jonsi walking home after the recording session revisiting the melody of what they'd just worked on. Amazing thing technology.

Jonsi has an iPhone? Okay. Shit. That's the last straw. Seriously. (Though they say coloured ones are coming soon...).

Also I now know who decided I'd like a spotlight in my face: Freyr Vilhelmsson. Freysi, why?

...and we're back

didn't think i'd last this long but here i am. it's 2am. i've not been glued to the athletes parade however.

i did enjoy the nine year old earthquake hero who got to march.

the flag lap really dragged. now they're doing their torch relay. which sounds dull but i'm digging it. it's the olympic spirit. crap it looks like it's going to go out but it doesn't.

earlier i was making dove hands so, you know...

woah, he just took off. the new, new nikki webster?

oh that is so cool! with the super mario thing again. he's going to do a whole lap!! is that entire thing a video screen? blimey. maybe it's well engineered projectors.

drum roll....

no mistake with that fuse system.

you'd reckon china could put together a pretty decent fireworks show. you'd be right.

oh no. ad break. long one. i guess it was over anyhow. Bendigo Bank. Holden. Telstra. So we have Holden and Ford tonight. The Telstra ad is really grating. To think I was almost going to get my iphone from them..

they're showing a little highlights package. australia not wearing green and gold? eh? well they look pretty good i guess.

grant hackett swimming tonight

nice job china. now when is the ping pong on?

soko

you've probably heard this already especially since it was flogged on triple j so much recently but check out the video, she sings the whole thing "unplugged" in one take.

...where i live blog the opening ceremony of the 2008 olympics

okay i love drums. drums with lights on them are even better.

countdown.. i have chills..

ok, the suits... can i have the drums back please?

okay better. YES!!!

the drums are a thousand years old?

wow

and glow sticks!

AND GLOW STICKS!! okay I am enjoying this way more than I thought I would. the angle shots where they're moving their heads up and down with the yellow and white and the perfect sync are amazing.

are the city flyovers with the fireworks live? if so then impressive!

how did they do that with the rings? it's a curtain? the crowd with the coloured lights looks cool.

aw, the kids are so cute!!

poor thing has the bindi-irwin-don't-forget-to-smile smile :)

it's the national anthem

WHAT! commercial break!! mid fireworks!!! r u kidding me? telstra must die

there's s scroll thing with video. I thought it was another ad. comentator is explaining that's it represents paper. they are dancing with crayons in their hands. it's brilliant. the stringed instrument thing is 1000 years old just like the drums. it's a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guzheng

the way they did the rolling ends of the scroll is clever. the painting is about a guy who chased the sun.

now it's dudes with feather head dresses bringing in bamboo which is what they used before paper was invented.

the floor is opening. i'm missing the drumming dudes from the opener. the music is dreary.

movable type! and it's doing the mexican wave. that can't have been easy with no alphabet. i hope it's computer controlled and there aren't short people under those things.

the letters are growing pink blossoms. oh it was people! cool! how did they do that! I hope they had a little screen showing them what to do. in the style of guitar hero but with up and down instead of coloured buttons. otherwise, omg..

thanks bendigo bank for making me miss the start of the puppet show. look how about next time we do scrolling ads on the bottom of the screen. it's stupid.

the scroll is back. and someone standing on carpet with people under it? it's the something dynasty. they were the only buddhist dynasty and they were very arty.

the oars are cool. some kind of historical story about something or other.

celebrating the invention of the compass. did not know that.

there's some opera singer girls in dresses. nice costumes. i'm a little bored.

pillars are growing up. it represents the royal palaces. people are on them. careful dudes.

telstra. didn't qantas use that song last time? gag. and we've missed most of the piano segment. he's very famous. and young. he's teaching a little girl some licks. she's having fun.

i guess the scroll is sticking around. oh I thought it was done with suspecnded projectors. it's a giant screen then.. cool. the star men are nice. they've made a dove. and they can change colour. peter pan girl provokes a nikki webster mention. no comment. aw they're making the shape of stadium i think.

tai chi chicks are hot. OH HOW CAN THAT BE AN AD BREAK!! Goddammit. Ford Falcon. Harvey Norman. You are ruining my night!! And we missed the start of... mass tai chi demonstration. AHH!!!

what re they going to do with that piece of paper? ebay?

The kids are doing some painting. And talking about climate and protecting the environment.

wow. brilliant. the tai chi guys are awsome.

kids are getting their backpacks. there are virtual birds instead of those poor pidgeons. nice. aw they coloured in the mountains and the sun.

now it's space mountain. can we expect china to lead the human race into space in the next few decades? why not.

OMG it's mario galaxy! they are running around on the globe.

the singer guy chose to wear: black t-shirt, untucked. can we not manage some sequins at the very least... even buttons and collar would have been an improvement.

oh the umbrellas are beautiful! i'm moved by those umbrellas. i'm imagining felix is on one.

the next company to ruin my night is.... red rooster. and commonwealth bank. though robocop money box made me smile. and we've missed the start of... dance spectacular.

the costumes are pretty special. i guess if you now about chinese history and culture you might know the significance of each costume.

why am i looking at fat bored westerners in the crowd? someone asleep at the control desk? WAKE UP.

athletes are marching. greece first of course. i'm getting a beer.

i can hear bagpipes but I can't see them.

battery update. i've got my screen on full dim. 1 hr 39 remaining.

i like the mali flag guy. tae kwon do champion.

"when you think of bhutan you think of archery"

go israel!

go japan!

"winston churchill called this country the pearl of africa" - and various lame anecdotes and sports trivia... is that the best you have?

guess what? NOW WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER TIME FOR AD BREAKS. I suppose they get angry letters from people who miss their country coming out.

cool, the foot prints are going on the paper in different colours.

i guess this goes for a good couple of hours now. i'm signing out for the time being. good night and may the olympic spirit touch your heart even if it's just a little bit.

correction: i think it was a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin

my birthday present

it's original! made in australia. never been worn. found in an op-shop for $4!!

re sigur ros at hordern

it was amazing. jonsi is a god. but if i was going to dwell on negatives i might have said the following:

• wtf is the deal with people getting up every two minutes to get drinks? and walking back and forth in front of me. go to the pub, you muffintime dildo scholars
• sure jonsi looks good when he's backlit from the side but spare a thought for everyone on the right having a spotlight in their faces for the entire show. luckily someone left a drum stool in front of it for the last few songs and i could actually see something
• the girls weren't there! i missed them :( ... i'm talking about these girls of course. the horn section dudes made up for it somewhat but i'm still grieving a little bit
• the sound quality was so-so. especially compared to the enmore last year where the sound was godly. everything was a little muddy. the piano badly needed some eq-ing. the drums lacked punch. maybe it was better in the middle

highlights:

• pivot were amazing. the second to last song they did blew my mind. i will figure out what it was and get back to you.
• the warm up music, straumnes on repeat
• first note of first song, the submarine ping from svefn-g-englar... ... if you know what i mean you know what i mean...
• jonsi's jacket
• first half of festival was otherworldly
• that bit near the end of inni mer... where you have jump
• se lest. so i kinda spoiled the surprise a little for myself via youtube but still, holy sweet snapping duckfeathers, it's like just ridiculous how brilliant that is (sorry i ran out of adjectives at godly...)
• the horn section really were pretty awesome
• the set list was pretty cool, see here (scroll down) if you're interested
• gobbledigook complete with confetti explosions
• two encores (i was suprised, especially after poplagid, a traditional closer)
• hoppiolla
• vid spilum endalaust
• fljotavik
• bavarian pretzels and beer in the place in the fox studios bit
• the cirque du soleil tent. it's big and blue and yellow
• meeting jared from last.fm and his buddy and selling them my spare ticket
• spending a whole weekend with yoshimi

more from _why

	_why because she steals all the pillows in the whole place, you muffintime dildo scholar. about 3 hours ago from web
	_why now my therapist, "okay, complete this sentence then: when granny steals all the pillows in the place, it infuriates me so deeply because—" ... about 3 hours ago from web

Setting up Zend to autoload eZ Components classes

In this article, Ralf Eggert describes how to make Zend autoload ezComponents classes by defining an __autoload method. I'm doing it another way (see below).  It seems to work just as well and it's shorter and cleaner:

require_once "Zend/Loader.php";
require_once "ezc/Base/src/base.php";

Zend_Loader::registerAutoload('Zend_Loader');
Zend_Loader::registerAutoload('ezcBase');

Disclaimer: I'm a beginner at all this stuff...

Watch Dr Horrible without skipping

http://www.mininova.org/get/1619362

(at least if your bandwidth is anything like mine...)

sigur ros @ hordern

photos (flickr)
videos (youtube)

large hadron collider photos

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/the_large_hadron_collider.html

if this thing can't re-create the opening scenes to half life then I just don't know what will

wall-e supposed to be good

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wall_e/

Handy Icelandic Phrases

Ófremdarástand  - What a mess

Já, anskotann - Fuck yeah

Sannur vinur manns - My true friend

Heyvagn á massey ferguson - A wagon of hay on a Massey Ferguson

Hoppípolla - Hopping into puddles

Brosandi - Smiling

Hendumst í hringi - Spinning around

Höldumst í hendur - Holding hands

Og hér ert þú - And here you are

Borðum og drekkum saddir - We eat and drink ourselves full

Þetta er ágætis byrjun - This is an alright start

Glósóli-leg hún - She's the glowing sun

Komdu út - So come out

Starir á mig lítill álfur - A little elf stares at me

Nýr dagur - New day

Held áfram að leita - I continue my search



(http://www.alwaysontherun.net/sigur.htm)

nellie the elephant by toy dolls in 1984

this is awesome. via osmosoftonia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eti21PVHXrg
click through to the top of the pops version if you liked that...

last night it went below 8 degrees

08:30 EST	14.0°C
08:30 EST	14.0°C
08:20 EST	12.7°C
08:10 EST	12.0°C
08:00 EST	11.4°C
08:00 EST	11.4°C
07:50 EST	10.6°C
07:40 EST	10.2°C
07:30 EST	10.0°C
07:30 EST	10.0°C
07:20 EST	9.3°C
07:10 EST	8.7°C
07:00 EST	8.3°C
07:00 EST	8.3°C
06:50 EST	7.9°C
06:40 EST	8.0°C
06:30 EST	8.0°C
06:30 EST	8.0°C
06:20 EST	8.4°C
06:10 EST	8.7°C
06:00 EST	8.3°C
06:00 EST	8.3°C
05:50 EST	8.5°C
05:40 EST	8.3°C
05:30 EST	8.2°C
05:30 EST	8.2°C
05:20 EST	8.0°C
05:10 EST	8.4°C
05:00 EST	9.6°C
05:00 EST	9.6°C
04:50 EST	8.1°C
04:40 EST	7.7°C
04:30 EST	7.9°C
04:30 EST	7.9°C
04:20 EST	8.5°C
04:10 EST	8.3°C
04:00 EST	8.2°C
04:00 EST	8.2°C
03:50 EST	8.3°C
03:40 EST	8.9°C
03:30 EST	8.7°C
03:30 EST	8.7°C
03:20 EST	8.1°C
03:10 EST	8.6°C
03:00 EST	8.6°C
03:00 EST	8.6°C
02:50 EST	8.7°C
02:40 EST	8.9°C
02:30 EST	8.7°C
02:30 EST	8.7°C
02:20 EST	9.0°C
02:10 EST	8.6°C
02:00 EST	8.4°C
02:00 EST	8.4°C
01:50 EST	8.6°C
23:40 EST	9.8°C
23:30 EST	9.6°C
23:30 EST	9.6°C
23:20 EST	9.8°C
23:10 EST	9.6°C
23:00 EST	9.5°C
23:00 EST	9.5°C
22:50 EST	9.7°C
22:40 EST	10.4°C
22:30 EST	10.2°C
22:30 EST	10.2°C
22:20 EST	10.5°C
22:10 EST	10.7°C
22:00 EST	11.0°C
22:00 EST	11.0°C

http://www.eldersweather.com.au/obshist.jsp?lt=site&lc=32040

Tenori-On Inspired PacklSound1 iPhone App Coming Soon, But Not Soon Enough [...

try doing that on your blackberry/htc/lg smartphone

via Gizmodo by Jack Loftus on 7/26/08

The Tenori-On is the zany Yamaha touch-based musical sequencer that caught our eye earlier this year, but this cool PacklSound1 iPhone app could very well be the portable version that puts us over the edge. It's a simpler version of the original $1,200 Tenori-On box, but that didn't stop the designer from laying down a quick, catchy beat. Seeing it in action, makes me want it right now:

And here's the original video demonstrating Tenori-On's seemingly infinite capabilities: [Pakl.net]

countdown till staturday night

some sigur ros related silliness:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=I2SymHccZxI (he saw toads)

if you're curious:
http://www.alwaysontherun.net/sigur.htm#t11

ez Components?

I'm looking at using ez Components to build a workflow kind of app. ez Components comes from norway and is a set of php classes for doing pretty much anything. It looks pretty good and seems to be reasonably well documented and under active development. http://ezcomponents.org/ Before I start wading in, does anyone have any experience with this? There doesn't seem to be much buzz about it around the blogosphere.

Update: A blog post on object persistence in Zend and ez Components.

uneducated thoughts on carbon trading

Imagine this better written and with photos in the style of ms fits:

Kevin07: ...world leading carbon emission permit trading scheme....
Industry: ...we'll shut down. move overseas. thousands of jobs will go...
Kevin07: ...oh don't worry. You guys will get free carbon emission credits...
Australia: ... eh?
Australia: and did you realise we share the same atmosphere as China...?

My two point plan to reduce carbon emissions:

• ban incandescent bulbs
• compulsory solar hot water on all new houses

lame. political.

i for one welcome the new soft-drink party to queensland politics.

nice desktop wallpaper

taken out the front of a campervan in new zealand in winter 2007 somewhere between wanaka and lake tekapo. if you actually want to use it then grab the huge version here. designed to be "stretched" on a widescreen monitor.

may the crown thief contract a voracious and incurable skin disease

http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/news/?p=1001

missing crown

last weekend at the benicassim festival appearance in spain, orri's fantastic crown went missing. if you have any information that would lead to the crown being returned to the band then please contact us. a reward is offered to whomever helps get it back.

Ramphotyphlops

i call it the blind worm snake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramphotyphlops
it's got no eyes and a teeny tiny mouth. it moves like a snake. and
has a flicky tongue. it has scales but it looks like a worm. it lives
in my palm tree.

jQuery is a beautiful thing...

$(document).ready(function(){
    $('#quiz_submit_button').click(function(){
        // check they answered everything
        if ($('input[@type="radio"]:checked').size() != $('.question').size()) {
            alert('Please answer every question.');
            return false;
        };
        return true;
    });
});

sultans turkish drive-thru

north brisbane somewhere

rather special fruitcake

i bought this in a charity auction at the mt crosby school fete

super monkeyball on ipod touch

slightly weird acrobats

indooroopilly

supermarket drums

aldi, strathpine

phew

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: <sigurrostickets@sandbag.uk.com>
Date: Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 10:44 PM
Subject: Dispatch of SIgur Ros tickets - sorry if this is late and you already have the tickets!
To: simon.baird@gmail.com

Shipping confirmation for order number K_______   Your ticket order is now on its way to you ! Your order has been packed and despatched using a registered mail service, to the address below. A signature will be required. Simon Baird 51 B______ Cres Kirwan QLD 4817 If the delivery is not successful, a calling card will be left, advising you of how to arrange a new delivery date or delivery address. Your reference number is RD 2______ and you can track the delivery by calling Australia post on 131318 or by contacting your local post office. Please get in touch if you haven't received your order one week before the date of the show. We hope you have a great show all @ Sandbag

heima

so i watched the first half an hour of heima (on a 720p screen with an upsampling dvd player btw). it is ridiculously good. it makes you want to live in iceland. or new zealand (the iceland of the southern hemisphere). it makes you want to wear knitted jumpers. it makes you want to hug someone. it makes you wonder where the hell your tickets are. i may be a little strange but i can't watch a live version of se lest without sobbing. actually i'm getting a little choked up right now thinking about... moving on to með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. i can't pronounce it but i can report that is amazing. as good as takk but with more variety.

cool myspace art

http://deuceofclubs.com/myspacecanvas/

Together Apart

together apart is not the stationwagon