Adros47's Online:Headspace

The Best Comet McNaught Photo Taken in Australia

2007-02-05T19:50:00.000+11:00

If I was there I would have had tears in my eyes. Amazing.

There are no Terrorists in Australia

2007-02-05T19:25:00.000+11:00

Oh dear. After giving Mamdouh Habib a vote of support yesterday (see here) Habib has given us his opening salvo in this article:

"...there are no terrorists in Australia, I believe."

Hmm... not to doubt his intimate knowledge of all twenty million people in Australia, I have to say it's an interesting belief he holds. I believe I sound better when singing in the shower.

It also raises the question - is a terrorist someone with the intent or someone who has actually commited an act of terrorism? Is Habib claiming he knows every Australian's intent? How would he know anyway - it's a topic he doesn't have any association with right?

Well now. What evidence do we have that there are or are not any terrorists in Australia. The Immigration Department holds a list of everyone in Australia. They should be able to tell if there are any acknowledged terrorists here.

What about terror attacks here in Australia? There has only been one - The Hilton Hotel bombing in 78. No one has been satisfactorily proven to have commited that attack. The one guy arrested twice for the crime (and acquitted both times) now lectures political science at Sydney Uni. Hmm... weird. I guess he's not a terrorist. Doubly so.

What about people who are planning the next attack here in Australia? Ah... here we run into trouble. Are they here? The Attourney-General will say yes. He has a very expensive security campaign to manage. What is its purpose if the terrorists aren't here?

In the end all we have here is some guy saying what he believes. Unfortunately he wants to be a pollie. Thanks for the opinion.

On Australia's terrorism watch list - and running for State Parliament

2007-02-01T16:51:00.000+11:00

[Photo: Peter Rae]

I read in SMH today (see here) that Mamdouh Habib, former Guantanamo Bay detainee, is running for NSW Parliament in the upcoming March 2007 elections.

If Habib makes a serious run at it, I think this is an excellent way to move forward on issues such as the new terror laws, watch lists etc. Win or lose, this is the best way he can put himself under the public eye and let the people of NSW see him in as much detail as the ASIO monitoring squad that has invariably been following his every move since his return to Australia in January 2005.

Putting himself in the public eye as a political figure will do much to wash away a lot of the lingering 'smell' of terrorism that hangs over him in the eyes of much of the Australian public. He can speak out on the issues that affect him and be heard as a potential insider and change-maker, rather than a lone voice in the dark.

Habib will be running for the seat of Auburn as an independent. He will be challenging Labor MP Barbara Perry. Auburn is a relatively safe Labor seat but Habib's celebrity and local support may give him a fighting chance. This should make for a very interesting campaign.

Excellent Still Life Photos

2007-01-27T12:08:00.000+11:00

These are some of the best still life photos I have seen. Check them out!

More Controversy at Australian Open

2007-01-26T10:55:00.000+11:00

The off-court controversy keeps coming at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

After the Serb vs. Croat punchup on the first day (come on, as if that's ever going to stop!) and the Sharapov hand signals what could possibly cause the next hubbub?

Well, take this guy...

This young man is accused of using his watch to dazzle Nicole Vaidisova during her semi-final match against Serena Williams yesterday. You can see in the photo he is sitting right in front of Serena's mum.

No doubt he will be watched very closely at Serena's final against Maria Sharapova tomorrow!

High tech cheating at Australian Open

2007-01-25T12:02:00.000+11:00

I'm sitting at home watching the Australian Open right now. I'm only half listening to the commentators droning away (still recovering from last night's Muse concert!) and something caught my ear.

They were discussing the spate of courtside coaching and the players who have been fined for it over the course of the competition - most recently Sharapova. The cameras have been trying to catch the coaches in the act, zooming in on their finger jestures. What caught my ear was the commentators realisation that whatever they zoom in on is shown on the big screen - right in front of the players! Any player could simply look up and see their coach jesturing away.

This is the most blatant misuse of technology in tennis since the hawkeye!

Australian Open website hates Firefox

2007-01-25T11:58:00.000+11:00

If you use Firefox browser, don't go to http://www.australianopen.com! I have tried it on two different computers with Firefox installed and both times it freezes the program! The site works fine in IE. I've never seen any other website do that to Firefox before. What's the deal?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's Google!!

2007-01-23T09:40:00.000+11:00

well, yes. It is a plane. A Google plane. Wave to the plane!

Why would a Google plane be flying low (600m) over Sydney on Australia Day? Hmm... here's a clue.

Yes, that's right. Google will be taking new photos for it's google maps service (http://maps.google.com.au) over Sydney CBD on January 26. These will be the highest resolution photos ever taken for Google Maps worldwide and Google is asking everyone to look out for the plane and do something distinctive to be recognisable later. The photos should be detailed enough to make out hair colour, clothing and jestures. Get out there and wave; hold up a sign; urinate on an electric fence! Anything to attract attention from the heavens!

The astute among you may have also noticed something strange about the website above. That's right. It's a '.au' domain. Google has set up Google Maps Australia with a local .au server.

Comet McNaught

2007-01-19T19:09:00.000+11:00

I saw comet McNaught with my own eyes a couple of evenings ago - it was soooooooo cool. The photo above is not my own unfortunately. These are. [photo credit Kevin Crause]

See more cool McNaught pics here.

Amazing electronic waterfall

2007-01-18T20:25:00.000+11:00

This waterfall is amazing!

Great Aussie online street directory

2007-01-12T12:41:00.000+11:00

zoom In is a nifty little google maps copy for australia with excellent street coverage and search capability. Pretty swish for 4 guys to whip up!

Time management - Goldfish style

2007-01-11T19:58:00.000+11:00

How Japanese Learn English... and More!

2007-01-11T19:54:00.000+11:00

Err... tell me this is NOT a Japanese learning guide. Then again, maybe I'll just look at that photo of his sister one more time...

Porn for your Car

2007-01-11T19:04:00.000+11:00

If cars had porn. This would be it.

Icon of Deep Space Destroyed

2007-01-10T14:22:00.000+11:00

You may recognise the picture above as the Pillars of Creation - a Hubble Space Telescope image from 1995. The bigger picture is the Eagle Nebula and the inset shows the fantastic Pillars - which became an instant icon of humans' vision for space exploration, the success of Hubble and the beauty of deep space.

This New Scientist article has a tragic story to tell - the Pillars are gone; destroyed in a supernova explosion! We won't see the destruction for another 1000 years, but that's really soon in astronomical terms.

Goodbye Pillars! Hopefully we'll be out there soon to pay homage at your grave site!

Face transplant followup

2006-12-11T18:00:00.000+11:00

As a follwup to my February 2006 post, here, this is the latest photo of Isabelle Dinoire, recipient of the world's first face transplant.

She received a face transplant consisting of the nose, lips and chin from a brain-dead donor in November 2005. She will be taking imunosuppresant drugs for the rest of her life, but she's apparently doing well and plans to return to work next year. Amazing stuff!

Byron trip - freaks of the animal kingdom

2006-12-06T12:50:00.000+11:00

A lot of people have displayed some increadulousness at some of the animal freaks I have described on my trip. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:

Pelican on pole - Tuncurry

Magpie on Crescent Head

Seven-legged horse

Two-headed cow

Byron Trip - Day 5

2006-11-26T00:29:00.000+11:00

I said goodbye to my cousin and headed off to explore the great north-west New England. I headed for Nimbin via the back roads. The back roads run around the old caldera mountains of the volcano (what do you mean, "which volcano"?) and the views were absolutely awe inspiring. I stopped at one vantage point taking in the amazing spectacle before me and after a few moments I became aware of a strange repetitive springy noise. I looked over the nearby fence and there was a young girl bouncing on her trampoline. i watched her for a few moments and then let my gaze drift back to the awe-inspiring view. This is hew backyard. This is what she sees while she jumps on her trampoline. Lucky.

I hit Nimbin at about 11am and shot in to the Rainbow Cafe for breakfast of a falafel wrap and a coffee. I was only accosted by three residents selling weed between the carpark and the cafe so I think I did well. Oh, did I mention I parked right outside the cafe? Nimbin. Meh. I overheard two people, both dressed in what I assumed were rainbow pyjamas, discussing the cool pictures of men and women on the toilet doors. Nimbin. Meh. I left Nimbin heading north, then south east along the main roads to Kyogle, then south onto route 91 again abck to Casino. Casino looked a lot like it did on Thursday. I guess not much changes.

I headed west on the Bruxner Highway until I hit Tenterfield. Tenterfield has an identity crisis. It is home to both Peter Allen, of Boy From Oz fame, and the home of Federation, where Henry Parkes gave his "let's federate" speech. I don't think Parkes used maracas.

I grabbed a sandwich in Glen Innes and was on my way out of town when a sign caught my eye. 'Celtic Standing Stone Monument' doesn't often pop up in conversation in rural NSW, but it doe3s in Glen Innes! What a monument! A full on stone circle. Very cool. I have photos. On the way out of town I passed Stonehenge Creek, Stonehenge Way and Stonehenge Farm. Are you seeing a pattern?

By this time, as usual, I was getting tired so i shot down the New England Highway at very illegal speeds. I didn't stop in Armidale but pushed on to my final destination - Tamworth. Home of country music. Hmm. At first Tamworth pissed me off royally. No motels near town (!!!!) and the beggars were out in force. I even saw one hand me off to another after I refused to give him whatever handout it was he was asking for. After dinner, however, things turned good. I watched the Tri-nations rugby leage final on a big screen - what a fucking great match! Then listened to some young guy strum out some classic Aussie hits, and a few American guitar songs as well, including my favourite - Lightning Crashes by Live.

I decided to call it a night, but on the way back to my motel I passed the Imperial Hotel going off it's head with swarms of drunk schoolie kids. Hmm, OK. I popped in for a drink and watched the Generation Y creatures do their amazing social interaction. Theirs is truly a foreign world. No one talked to me. Poor me. So much cleavage, so few conversations.

Anyway, it's off to bed for me now and straight down the highway tomorrow, home to Sydney. Stay tuned!

Byron Trip - Day 4

2006-11-26T00:19:00.000+11:00

Today was a relaxing day. I woke up late and cruised into Byron for a coffee. I love beach towns. I can go to a cafe wearing noting but a pair of (really cool) shorts and no one complains about my big gut! I love it.

I spent the afternoon sitting around with my little cousin Lily playing with dolls. It's just like playing with dolls at home except there are other people around who don't look at you funny. The dog was a problem. In between trying to eat us, he ate a small green plastic pony and a pink baseball cap that read "Roxy". Lily was a bit upset about the cap. She asked me what Roxy meant, and I couldn't really tell her. She wasn't quite so upset after that!

We took the dog for a walk - I think he needed it. On the beach the dog played in the surf while Lily dived off three-metre cliffs into the sand. Lucky sand is so soft! I took the oportunity to let my gut out to play again and jogged the beach. Jogging sucks.

In the evening me, and two of Byron's finest young women went out for a night on the town. The Beach Hotel was pumping. It took us two goes to get in because the girls didn't bring ID and the first set of bouncers didn't know them by sight - a strange occurrence in Byron! We knocked back a few bevvies and let the music and salty air wash over us. I slept well that night!

Oh, by the way, Caroline, your belt is in my car. I'll keep it as a souvenir.

Byron Trip - Day 3

2006-11-23T22:39:00.000+11:00

Today I woke up refreshed and ready to hit the road. I guess all the driving catches up with you and you end up really tired without noticing it during the day. Anyway, I left the YHA, where I’d stayed the night before and went round to the waterfront café at Coffs Harbour Jetty for coffee and French toast with fruit compot.

I hit the road at about 10am and headed up the Pacific Highway to Grafton. I didn’t really stop along the way. At Grafton I stopped in at Big W to buy a present for my cousin’s daughter, who was having her fifth birthday party this arvo in Byron Bay. I bought a pink bag with fairies on it and some jewelry. As it turns out, everything she got today was pink and had fairies on it. Except the little toy pony; that was green.

I headed north from Grafton along state route 93 – Summerville Way. That way I’d hit Casino and turn east to Byron Bay via Lismore instead of passing though Ballina. By this stage I was already tired again, so I shot through along the 93 without stopping. There’s not much there anyway and I had the Gorillaz and Rob Dougan to keep me company. Actually – the long drives along the secondary roads are the best part of this trip! The scenery is always more interesting, there’s less traffic and I can stop to take photos along the way.

I passed pretty quickly through Casino and Lismore, just stopping long enough to grab a city map from the local info shop – boy those tourism volunteers can talk and talk! I hit Byron at about 2pm and crashed at my cousin’s house just long enough to have a drink and a pee, then it was out to pick up the birthday girl from day care and to the park at Byron Head for the BBQ. I spent all afternoon hanging with my new friends – the five year olds – and came home so tired I blobbed on the couch for an hour then went to bed. This is the only night of my trip when I won’t be driving the next day. Plus, exams are finishin up and everyone in Byron is out partying – and I’m too tired to go. Oh well. At least I won pin the horn on the unicorn!

Byron Trip - Day 2

2006-11-22T19:37:00.000+11:00

Phew, what a day!

I woke a little worse for wear after spending the evening in the Port Macquarie Hotel drinking beer and watching cricket with two English guys. I grogged my way out of town the next morning with the help of a Gloria Jean’s coffee.

A helpful woman told me it was only two hours to Coffs Harbour. Two hours?! I was going to have to kill some time. Back on the highway I headed for Kempsey, occasionally forced to stop and wait at those bloody one-lane-at-a-time road works. I like lollipop men even less than lollipops. Just after Kempsey I found tourist drive 12, which would take me to Crescent Bay, Hat Head and South West Rocks. Haha, Hat Head! What a drive! Crescent Bay was fantastic! Ocean on three sides at the top of a huge hill. Nice views. I also got mugged by a family of very very pushy magpies. Luckily I was able to distract them with handfuls of macadamia shortbread as I made my escape.

Speaking of freaky animals, did I mention the two-headed cow? Oh yes, you heard me – a live, breathing two-headed cow. Uh huh. Way! I know! That wasn’t even the weirdest one. Yep, that’s right. A seven legged horse. You betcha. Seven. Six at the front, one at the back. How does it canter? Tourist drive 12. Go there. See it. Freaks.

So on to South West Rocks (I skipped Hat Head. Too silly.) Meh. I saw Trial Bay Gaol. I won’t mention the weird coincidence of building a gaol at Trial Bay. Got some snaps. Wasn’t in a history mood so I shot through.

I got back on the Pacific Highway at about 2pm and headed for Bellingen. On my way out of South West Rocks I filled up on petrol and had a nice chat with the servo chick. They offered 4c per litre discount with a 2 litre coke. The woman told me not to take them up on their generous offer because I’d pay $4 for the coke and save about $1.80 on petrol. I asked her why she was undermining the business and at the same time, since it was a Shell, asked if they had Flybuys. She answered both questions by saying Shell wouldn’t do Flybuys out there because it was too remote so fuck ‘em.

I passed through Macksville, Nambucca Heads and Urunga – or Macksuruccaheadsville as I like to call them – on the way north. Macksville was interesting, I got mugged for a second time that day. While stopped at the lights a drunk loser knocked on my window, wrenched the passenger door open and asked if I could drop him ‘two minutes up the road’. With my hand clutching the valuables sitting on the passenger seat I told him to get the frak out of my car. Luckily he did. Loser.

So at 3pm I hit Bellingen. It was hot and I was tired, so I wandered the streets for half an hour and left. It’s a nice historical town, worth another look tomorrow perhaps.

So now I’m at Coffs. They still have Ansett signs here! I guess I’ll stroll the beach and eat a big two-headed cow steak. I wonder if they have rump…

Byron Trip - Day 1

2006-11-21T17:46:00.000+11:00

I started my trip to Byron this morning. After a wake up call from my sister wondering if I could put my trip on hold and babysit this afternoon I decided to get out of town. After crawling through the Lane Cove to Hornsby stretch of the Pacific Highway I hit the F3 and let my little suped-up lil' lightning do all the work. It doesn't have cruise control or artificial intelligence, so when I say all the work, I mean I had to sit there and steer the car for six hours.

I was in uncharted territories after the second Newcastle turnoff, having never got it into my head to drive any further than that. I've done the Newcastle day trip dozens of times - my work takes me up there. With my trusty touring atlas on the passenger seat and my iPod blasting out Muse, Marcy Playground and Eskimo Joe - I do like those happy songs don't I? - I cruised until about 11.30 - when I hit Bulahdelah. Bulahdelah. I think of it like a cross between Ulladulla and Nuttela - sort of South Coast with Hazelnuts. Mmm...

I had a chat with a young family who also stopped for some mid-morning nutty goodness. They were on their way to Coffs Harbour with a little 15-month toddler and a babe-in-arms. They told me not to drive all the way to Byron with kids. Luckily I hadn't yet got to the part of the day when I planned to kidnap some babies, so I was able to change plans smoothly and continue alone.

Did I forget to mention breakfast? Yep! My first stop was actually Oliver's Real Food Cafe at the servo stop half way to Newcastle. They do weird vegetable-filled pressed sandwiches. So I had a weird vegetable-filled pressed sandwich for breakfast and bought two bottles of Coke. Why? Because at $3.40 a bottle, a 2 for $4 deal was too good to pass up. I had the 60c one first. It tasted cheaper.

So after not kidnapping anyone all day, I decided to get off the highway and see some of the countryside. Just after Bulahdelah (like 'dull Bodella') was a tourist drive that took in the Lakes District, Forster and a place called Pacific Palms. I only saw casuarinas so the palms must be a gimmick or something. It was pretty though. I stopped a couple of times on the tourist drive to take pickies.

After Forster-Tuncurry (forced a ton of curry where?!?) all the signs pointed to Taree - which was good, because that was on the way to my destination for the day - did I mention that? Right, I was aiming for Port Macquarie for my first stop. I passed Taree at 117kph with eyes for the Port. Alas, the signs weren't on my side. None mentioned the mythical land of Port Macquarie. I thought I might have imagined the place. I rechecked my touring atlas - yep, there it is, just up ahead. I kept going. Another sign... no mention of the Port. Hmm... I kept going. Suddenly, there it was! A distance sign with Port Macquarie - IN PARENTHESES! What the frak does that mean? 'Shhh, Port Macquarie 18km but don't tell anyone'? Or maybe, 'Port Macquarie 18km - JUST KIDDING!' Bloody hell, was I going to find this place or not? Kempsey - no problem. Wauchope (Wauchope?) yep, every sign points to friggin Wauchope. Port Macquarie, eh, maybe if you're lucky.

I pushed on. I kept going. I followed the signs. I drove though ten roundabouts and a couple of suburbs that looked like they were made from Lego. Finally I was there. Port Macquarie! Yay! There's the beach, there's town, there's a motel! So I'm sitting in my motel room, posting to my blog now, killing time before the dinner hour. Yes I know it's currently drinking hour, but half the pleasure is anticipation so calm down pissheads!

I had a swim in the motel pool. I did a few laps and chatted up the bikini-clad chick with the face-mask, er, I mean sunglasses (how big do they wanna make them!?!!) That didn't go too well because some other guy in the pool kept interrupting with questions like, "Who are you?", "What do you want?" and "Stop touching my girlfriend there."

OK, so that's day 1. If I get up to anything interesting tonight, you'll hear about it tomorrow. Time for a shower. No peeking!

Use By dates - I have no fear!

2006-11-20T20:35:00.000+11:00

I had peanut butter toast this morning. The PB was use by Feb 2003. I'm still alive!

Travelling up the coast

2006-11-20T15:40:00.000+11:00

Hi guys,

I'm about to embark on a little journey, after having spent the first week of my two-week vacation at home reading, partying, eating and lazing around wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts.

Tomorrow I set off up the Pacific Highway en route to Byron Bay via Port Macquarie, Bellingen and Coffs Harbour. I'll be checking out plenty of smaller towns on the way. I'll post a bit of a travelblog on this site. If I can't get an internet connection during the trip, I'll just post a summary after I get back.

By the way, anyone who knows where I live also knows I have a large German Shepherd who lives in the front yard, and I don't have anything worth stealing anyway, except the dog. I'm actually thinking of unlocking my broadband account while I'm away - neighbours, go nuts!

Treaty with Indonesia

2006-11-08T12:58:00.000+11:00

Firstly, I'd like to say this is my 200th post to the blog! What a milestone. Hooray for me! Hello? Hellooo? Does anybody read this bloody thing? Ah, screw it!

Anyway, I was a bit shocked to read this quietly released news story from SMH about the new treaty Foreign Minister Downer plans to sign with Indonesia on Monday.

Among issues such as mutual recognition of sovereignty, regional security and nuclear non-proliferation spoutings, it apparently commits Australia to assist Indonesia develop a nuclear program, with construction of its first nuclear power plant scheduled to commence in four years time.

That's an incredibly quick turnaround time on national nuclear policy. Pressure for nuclear power has been building for a long time, of course, but these developments are coming quick and fast. We're selling uranium to China. Despite India not signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty we were on the cusp of selling uranium to them last year. Now we're developing regional nuclear power programs. We don't even have a nuclear program yet!

In addition to mending diplomatic ties with Indonesia, damaged by this year's Papuan refugee incident, the treaty sends a message to the region that Australia is a very very valuable neighbour. In light of the recent Pacific island backlash to our meddling in their affairs Australia is dangling one huge carrot in front of the ASEAN community.

If that wasn't enough, the article went on to say Australia and Indonesia agreed to suppress Papuan independence supporters. Hmm... Suppress. That's an ugly word. Does Australia suppress free speech? Does Australia formally agree to helping other countries suppress free speech. No, uh... actually yeah. I guess we do... now. I can imagine the conversation.

"Mr Prime Minister, we want you to help us suppress the Papuans."
"Oh, we can't do that! We're not looking good for the next election as it is! Interest rates and the like!"
"Come on!"
"We're already helping you develop nukes! What are you going to do? Build a Chernobyl in West Papua?"
"We just want to shut them up. They're annoying. Come on, sign the treaty. Otherwise we'll join the other Pacific nations and talk about how meddlesome you are - you'll never get into ASEAN that way!"
"Oh jeez! Why don't I just turn around, bend over!"
"Well, if that's how you're going to be, I'll just give Fiji a call and..."
"OK, OK gimme the bloody pen..."

Tags: Indonesia, treaty, nuclear, Papua, adros47, Adros47s Online Headspace

Some 6-word sci-fi stories

2006-10-25T23:23:00.000+10:00

Enough said. See here.

One At All - Project

2006-10-24T16:27:00.000+10:00

I was recently contacted (via a comment on this blog) by the curator of the One At All Project website, who invited me to become a contributor to the project. I happily accepted the invitation and I am now a regular contributor to that website.

Managed from Brazil, the website invites contributors and the public to vote on weekly discussion topics, after which, each contributor writes an article on the chosen topic. I have written two articles so far, one on the importance of Australia to the world and the other on places in Australia you should see - complete with pictures!

The fascinating part is the com parison between countries and seeing the different global points of view on interesting topics. There are currently 24 contributors, men and women from all over the world. Check it out!

Japanese tourists suffer from "Paris Syndrome"

2006-10-24T16:02:00.000+10:00

I stopped to laugh when I read this SMH article. Aparrently, Japanese tourists suffer psychotic breaks because the realities of Paris life are so far removed from their preconceptions!

Aren't the Japanese supposed to be the world's tourism experts?

Perhaps the tightly packed, population-shrinking, sterile, high-tech environment of Japan is breeding a population of highly strung hypochondriac idealists.

Aussies just see the Eiffel Tower and make dick jokes!

The Choice 2006 Shonky Awards

2006-10-19T14:27:00.000+10:00

Click the title to see the top 10 shonky consumer products!

My two favourites are the gin and tonic lime twist in a can - with vodka instead of gin, no 'tonic' (quinine)... and no lime. Then there's the drinking oxygen (known as "bio-available") which is a $55 shot - that's $55 more than the cost of breathing.

Plus read right down to the end, there's a quote that makes you wonder what really goes into wholemeal bread!

Technically, you would only ever need one time traveller convention

2006-10-19T13:53:00.000+10:00

If the title of this post doesn't give you a nerdy chuckle, stop reading now. Apparently the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had one in May 2005. I wonder who was there.

The idea is if you schedule a time traveller convention and publicise it into the far future by carving the place, date and time on stone tablets and history books you would only ever need to hold the one event. Time travellers of all different eras could converge on the one place and time (on multiple occasions if they so desired) and participate.

My guess is it wasn't that crowded... Otherwise we would have heard, right? Does this prove the non-existence of time travel? Maybe they should have marketed it a bit better. Cocktail weenies and strippers, perhaps.

East Darling Harbour's new name - Barangaroo

2006-10-18T17:09:00.000+10:00

According to this article from SMH, East Darling Harbour will be renamed Barangaroo when it is converted into a new residential/commercial inner city suburb over the next few years.

After rejecting "Hungry Mile" – the name applied to the stretch of Hickson Road earlier this century as migrant workers walked its length seeking work – as a suburb name the naming committee has gone with the name of Bennelong's wife. This clearly creates a lovely set of bookends to the northern end of the CBD with Bennelong point (where the Opera House sits) on the east and Barangaroo – his wife – to the west.

While the name itself is a little too marsupial for my liking, I do like the acknowledgement of the area as native land, as is the fashion these days. These types of decisions, however, always concern me a little. In deciding on the Aboriginal name I hope the committee didn't reject other names soley due to their un-Aboriginality.

Either way, "Barangaroo and The Rocks" sounds like a fun, happening tourist area. That or a Johnny Diesel band!

** Update: Read this article to hear Paul Keating’s views on the topic. (Sorry about that sentence, I think I mixed a metaphor...) Despite being on the naming committee he shares some of my views, calling the name “Aboriginal kitsch”! I also learned from the article that I had been pronouncing the name incorrectly. It’s Ba-RANG-a-roo, not Ba-RANG-ga-roo. It still sounds marsupial. Click here for the official East Darling Harbour development site.

The amazing shrinking oscar-winning director!

2006-09-18T17:39:00.000+10:00

I just read this article in SMH and had to look three times at this picture to be sure. What diet is Jackson on!?!

Where's Pablo? Terracotta stunt - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

2006-09-18T17:36:00.000+10:00

Where's Pablo? Terracotta stunt - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

I love this report! It has everything! Fulfilling a lifelong dream, fooling Chinese police, disguises and wacky Germans! Can't wait for the movie! Pablo, you're a genius!

Tubby Gets a Name

2006-09-14T23:00:00.000+10:00

For all you regular readers, you may remember some recent posts of mine concerning planets. Particularly the 'dwarf planet' 2003 UB₃₁₃. This dwarf planet sparked a riot for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was discovered way out in the Trans-Neptunian asteroid belt way, way, way beyond Pluto and just happens to be slightly bigger than Pluto. Planet status for 313 seemed inevitable until the IAU, in it's infinite wisdom, classified it as a dwarf planet, along with Pluto and Ceres - see my comments here. Secondly, it became popularly known as Xena, and it's little moon, Gabrielle. Aaarrrrggghhhhh!! I refuse to allow a celestial body to be named after a TV character. (Don't get me started on a certain Disney dog...) So I gave it a new name based on it's astronomical designation: 'Tubby'. Good ol' Tubby.

Anyway, here's the latest announcement from the IAU. Tubby isn't Xena. It's 'Eris'. The moon, Tubby Jr, is called 'Dysnomia'. As Bad Astronomy website points out Dysnomia is the Goddess of Lawlessness.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds indeed!

Space Project Names - You'd need to be Hercules to Figure it Out!

2006-09-10T15:59:00.000+10:00

Check out this article from The Space Review website for a humorous look at the current nomenclature of the next generation manned space program (or is project?)

So far there's working names like Crew Exploration Vehicle, Cargo Launch Vehicle and Lunar Surface Access Module. So some NASA brainiac tried to simplify it with catchy names, hence Project Constellation, Orion, Ares 5.

I think I'll be the first of article author Greg Zsidisin's rubes and call the whole thing Project Consternation!

New Coke was a failure. New Coke cans are a hit!

2006-09-10T10:37:00.000+10:00

The Coke marketing gurus have struck again... I kinda like it! This is what they get paid to do... People are going to swarm to these cans and the beaty is they're paying a premium price for less drink. Pure genius. Here's the article.

TV Shows by Weight (Simpsons underweight? Who knew?)

2006-09-05T17:05:00.000+10:00

This article from SMH is absolutely fscinating. It basically sorted TV shows preferred by viewers of different categories, ie underweight, normal and obese. Here are the results:

Obese people watch: Numb3rs; Criminal Minds, NCIS, Las Vegas, Ghost Whisperer, House, Medium, Cold Case, CSI, Law and Order, Survivor, Crossing Jordan, My Name Is Earl, Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break.

Underweight people watch: Smallville, 7th Heaven, American Dad, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Malcolm in the Middle, Friends, Charmed, South Park, America's Next Top Model.

People whose weight is normal for their age and height watch: The O.C., Sex and the City, Dr Phil, Will and Grace, Supernanny, Desperate Housewives, Veronica Mars.

Firstly, it's important to keep in mind that these are American stats, but, as the article says, our weight stats and popular TV shows are disturbingly similar to the USA, so there's a good bet these results match Aussies as well.

So what's the deal? What's the correlation? Here's my take:

The first group has a clear theme. Fatties love the Drama Holy Trinity - Doctors, Lawyers, Cops. The only big departures are Ghost Whisperer and My Name is Earl. Two shows where the main character is, shall we say, living within normal society by only the slimmest of margins. While these types of shows are prime time, we can't really say that non-obese people don't watch prime time TV - have a look and you'll note some familiar friends there like The O.C., Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives. What's the difference?

I think obese viewers are drawn to the rough and tumble world of funning down the city streets, gun in hand. Or, to put it another way, while this will also attract the normal weight viewers, they're not put off by the domestic dramas the way the obese viewers are. The O.C., Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives. Are set, for the most part, in houses: bedrooms and kitchens. This is where obese people live and they reject these shows as too close to home.

What about the skinnies? Well, the supermodel show is a no brainer; Anorexics think alike. There's a lot of comedy in that group, maybe laughter burns calories. Or maybe Southpark and Millionaire put them right off their food. If you forced me to watch Eddy Maguire for too long, I'd be running too!

Update:

I just thought of an additional consideration. These Holy Trinity shows most viewed by the obese viewers are in an old , tired genre. NYPD Blue is now NCIS, LA Law is Boston Legal and Law and Order just won't quit! Maybe the inability to change eating habits among the obese viewers is mirrored in their inability to adapt to new genres. Anyway, pass me a chocolate bar, Cold Case is about to start...

Tags: TV, weight, obese, adros47, Adros47s Online Headspace

Celebrity Art is Shit

2006-08-31T11:41:00.000+10:00

I have, on occasion, waxed lyrical about the idiocy of the residents of the strange world of Hollywoodland. These residents, who look like people but aren't, often do and say things that make us, real world people, cringe.

The latest example is from an article I read (here) at SMH. And it goes like this:

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have a baby.
They name the baby Suri.
Some guy makes a bronze cast of Suri's first shit. Yes shit. Yes. Really. I know!
The bronze shit is mounted with a plaque that reads "First Poop" and displayed at the Capla Kesting gallery in Brooklyn.

I'm going to repeat it again, because it's that freaky: bronze shit.

I was chatting with a friend just yesterday, about Tom Cruise. I was articulating my amazement that of all the celebrites likely to go loopy Michael Jackson style, I never would have guessed Top-Gun-Tom-Cruise (not OUR Tom Cruise!) My friend said words to the effect of, "come on, he's not that bad."

Well to him today I say this: BRONZE SHIT.

Bronze shit.

Tags: Tom Cruise, Suri Cruise, art, bronze, shit, adros47, Adros47s Online Headspace

Sorry about the last post

2006-08-29T13:54:00.000+10:00

Hi all,

Sorry about the last post. If you liked it, good! Check out tenthdimension.com. If your brain blew up, don't worry. I'm still picking bits of my brain off the ceiling.

By way of explanation, please refer to the timestamp on the last post.
Oh. One of those nights.

Properties of Spacetime Dimensions and Real-world Evidence of Additional Dimensions

2006-08-29T03:02:00.000+10:00

Introduction

In this essay I look at the four evident dimensions of the world in which we live, that is, three dimensions of space and one of time. I will analyse the properties of these dimensions and show how different properties allow us to interact with (or move within) each dimension in certain ways and restrict us from interacting in other ways.
It is these simple but powerful properties of the dimensions, particularly the restrictions on how we interact with the dimension of time, that govern, not only how we interact with them, but more importantly how we perceive them and what we can deduce from those perceptions.
I have broken this essay into the following sections. Firstly, I will look at the dimensions of space and describe the three properties of them that allow us to interact with them. I will describe how the same properties limit our interaction with and perception of time. The second section considers the possibility of an additional dimension of both space and time and what real-world evidence exists for these postulated additional dimensions.

Properties of Space

We live in a world with three dimensions of space – height, width and length. For the purposes of string theorists, I am ignoring the tiny, curled-up additional spatial dimensions predicted by string theory. I am only interested in the large, unfurled universe-spanning dimension – of which there are three we can easily perceive. Consider how we interact with these dimensions. Firstly, to me all spatial dimensions appear the same. It is only the world around me and the gravitational pull applied on me by the Earth that allows me to differentiate them at all. If I were free floating in space, I would still be able to identify three spatial dimensions (for example by viewing the background stars) but they would be no different from each other and any labels applied to them (such as height, width and length) would be purely arbitrary. So let us then consider the properties of one spatial dimension, for simplicity. Any properties identified will apply simultaneously to all three spatial dimensions.

In any given spatial dimension I can move. The simple act of being in the dimension and accessing its size is a property of that dimension. Think of a spatial dimension as a long, straight road – I can walk along it. This is a property I call accessibility.

Before I walk along this road, I realize I have already identified a second property. I can see the road. I can look ahead and behind and see it stretching away in two directions. This is a property I call visibility.

The third important property of this road is a property I call variable momentum. If I choose, I can walk along the road at a stroll, or perhaps a brisk walk. I can break into a run, a dash and then skid to a halt. I can turn around and run back the other way. I have momentum along the road as I move, but I have the power to change speed and even direction. My momentum is variable to my whim.

These are the three properties of spatial dimensions I will study first. There are a couple of other properties I will explain later but for now we will look at these three. Dimensions have accessibility, visibility and variable momentum. All three spatial dimensions act the same and I can see and move in any or all directions and change speed with a thought (as long as I have a reaction mass, if I find myself still floating in space!)

Properties of Time

Now let’s look at time. Time, too, is a dimension and common sense tells us there is one dimension of time, we move along it to get from past to future. However, a minute’s thought will reveal a few differences. Let’s look at our three dimensional properties again, but this time apply them to the dimension of time. Let’s think of time as a process that has an effect. In this example I will represent time as my body aging.

So, is time accessible? The answer is yes. I am getting older, that means I am moving in time. The second property is visibility. When we talk about space, it is easy to understand what we mean by visible – we can see the road ahead of us. With time, we need to think differently; we can’t see time with our eyes. I do know what happened in my past, though. It’s in my memory. Again, think of space for a minute. We see the road ahead because photons of light are hitting our eyes and being interpreted by our brain. This is the mechanism for seeing the road, but the important fact is that I can see the road, with all its bumps and turns. As I age, I can clearly remember what I looked like when I was younger. It’s in my memory, so memory is the mechanism we use to identify the past, but the important thing is that we can ‘see’ the past. It is visible.

What about the future? Here we meet our first major difference between time and space. I have no memory of the future. Nor do I have any mechanism for seeing it. Time’s visibility is one-way only. I can see the past, but not the future.

The third property is variable momentum and here again we see a difference between space and time. I am getting older at a constant rate; I age one year per year. This is an arbitrary measure, but the important thing is that it doesn’t appear to change. Any measure I choose to use has the same result. The speed, or momentum, of time is apparently fixed. I have no power to change it. I am only moving in one direction – towards the future – and time’s momentum is not variable. It is also interesting to note that while I can only move in one direction, I can only see in one direction – the opposite direction! It’s almost like I’m on a train that won’t speed up, won’t slow down and only has one window – a rear window. How frustrating!

So time is quite restrictive compared to space. In space I have maximum freedom in accessibility, visibility and momentum. Time restricts my visibility to the past and my momentum to a fixed speed towards the future. What does that say about our perceptions? Perhaps the four dimensions are only the ones we can perceive – maybe there are others with limited visibility that we can’t see, but are there. In the next section we look at the effect of higher dimensions of space and time and whether we can tell if they’re really there or not!

A Fourth Dimension of Space?

What if there was a fourth spatial dimension. How would we know? What would it look like? Can we prove it exists or doesn’t exist? In order to answer these questions, I need to introduce a new idea: local and non-local points.

Let’s think of the road again. Another property of the road I didn’t mention before is continuity. The road is continuous. It doesn’t break in the middle; it just keeps going and going, with each little piece of road touching the one behind it and the one in front of it and so on. All these pieces of road touching each other are called local space. When I walk down the road I am moving locally, that is, from one piece of road smoothly to the next and so on. Imagine I wanted to get a long way down the road quickly. I could run, but that still takes time. The quickest way would be to disappear from where I am now and instantly reappear at the far end of the road, like teleportation. This is called non-local movement. In our common sense world of three spatial dimensions I can’t do this. Our three dimensions of space are all continuous and I have to move continuously through them.

If there was a fourth spatial dimension it would be a whole new story. I’ll use Flatland as a simple example. Flatland is a world of two spatial dimensions. There is length and width but no height, like a piece of paper. If I was a Flatlander, I would have no height at all; I would live embedded in the flat surface of Flatland, like a piece of fibre in the paper. I could go left or right, forward and back, but not up or down. Flatland is made up of continuous dimensions, so Flatlanders can only move locally. They can’t jump from one side of the paper to the other. Now, what if we added a third spatial dimension to the Flatland universe? Now we can bend and curl the paper in the extra dimension. I can curl the paper into a cylinder and join two opposite ends. The Flatlander can move all the way to one side of the paper, then keep moving continuously across the join the other side of the paper using the curl in the extra dimension. Now, here’s the interesting part. Flatlanders only use two dimensions, so they can’t actually perceive the curl. From their point of view, embedded in the paper, the curl is invisible. Another Flatlander living on the same piece of paper would see the first Flatlander teleport from one side of the paper to the other but the join would be invisible. It would appear that the first Flatlander moved non-locally!

Now let’s look at our world again. If I assume there is a fourth spatial dimension that I cannot perceive directly, I should still be able to see its effect by witnessing all my friends moving non-locally through the invisible curl through the fourth dimension. It is my conclusion that since I have never heard of this phenomenon happening, there is no fourth spatial dimension.

A Second Dimension of Time?

Now let’s look at time again. Time is accessible. Time is visible in the past only. Time has a fixed momentum into the future. It also appears to be continuous. I have never seen a ‘time jump’ when the clock went from one o’clock to two o’clock instantly without going through all the local minutes and seconds in between. Now what if there was a second dimension in time? What would it look like in the real-world?

One dimension of time is like a straight line (hence the term ‘timeline’.) If there was a second dimension there would be a ‘timesurface’ consisting of an infinite number of lines in all different directions. Imagine you had a sheet of paper and a pen – how many lines can you draw criss-crossing all over the paper? An infinite number of lines! To simplify this, let’s look at two lines, one branching off from the other, see Figure 1. It would look like time split in two! There would be places where we could come to a fork in time and we would have to take one route or another. Does this happen in the real world? It definitely does. It’s call a ‘choice’! We make choices every day. From experience we know that each time we make a choice in our lives, there are two (or more) possible outcomes. Each time we make a choice we are creating a fork in the ‘timesurface’ and choosing one route instead of another. See figure 2. Since this happens in the real-world, it is my conclusion that there are two dimensions of time!

Analysing the Second Dimension of Time

Here’s where things get really interesting. It looks like there really is a second dimension of time! The problem is this doesn’t seem right. Common sense tells me I’m wrong. So let’s analyse this carefully in light of the three properties of time we discussed earlier.

Time is only visible one-way. We can only see the future. But as we go through time we can use our past experience to educate us on the present. We can predict upcoming choices and acknowledge them as they happen. For example, Let’s say I’m jogging on a hot day. I’m thirsty. I see a juice stand ahead selling orange juice for a dollar. (I can see it because space is freely visible.) As I jog up to the juice stand I am faced with a choice. Do I buy an orange juice? Let’s say I decide to buy a juice. I have made a choice and taken one of two time-paths like in Figure 2. Now let’s look at the visibility of time. We can only see the past! So as soon as I buy the juice the other choice is lost to me, like in Figure 3. I stay on one time-path, but as time goes on, I am moving further away from the other path I could have take. Further away, that is, on the two dimensional timesurface.

Let’s continue the example. I suddenly realise I need that dollar for the bus. Luckily, I haven’t opened my orange juice, so I make a second choice – I decide to go back to the stand and return the juice and get my dollar back. On the timesurface, I’m getting closer again to the other choice I could have made earlier, but now I’m coming from a different direction. I get back to the juice stand and now I’m back where I was before with a similar choice to before. Do I return the juice? I make a third choice and decide to return the juice. The juice guy happily returns my dollar in exchange for the juice and I go on my way. So what happened? It seems like I took one time-path, then went back and got a second choice to take the other time-path. This isn’t what really happened. Look at Figure 4. Once I made my first choice, the other one was lost. As I continued down the path I chose, I made a second choice that brought me to a time and place very similar to the last choice but not the same. I made a third choice and now I’m on a time-path that’s very very similar to the first one I rejected, but not quite the same. (For one thing, I’m 5 minutes late for the bus now!)

To me it all looked like I went back and forth in space, but time just kept marching on in a straight line. However, If there was only one dimension of time, I couldn’t deviate from the line. There would only be one line! In the story, I followed four separate time-lines and made three decisions to change my direction onto a different line. At each turn, I could only see my past. I can’t see the future and I can’t see time sideways. So I can’t see the other time-path diverging from my chosen one. This is why in the real-world, it is easy to have two dimensions of time, but we can only ever see in one direction, so it always looks like a straight line. Think about being in a space ship that someone else is flying. It might be turning corners in all three spatial dimensions, but when I look out the rear window, I look in a straight line, so I wrongly assume I’m moving in a straight line. Every time I change directions on the spaceship, I feel my momentum pull me sideways. Every time I change directions on the timesurface I made a decision to change my mental momentum.

A Third Dimension of Time?

Is there a third dimension of time? Well, if there were, I could do the non-local jump, just like in space with the Flatlanders. If I could do that, I could have saved time in our example with the bus. If I could just jump from one point on the timesurface to another non-local point, when I realised I needed the dollar for the bus I could have simple jumped to the place on the timesurface where I hadn't bought the juice, or better yet, jumped to another point, much further away, where I had two dollars, one for the bus and one for the juice! Since this time-jumping never happens in the real-world (I've never seen it!) I conclude there is no third or higher dimensions of time.

Conclusion

The absence of non-local spatial movement confirms the non-existence of a fourth or fifth, or any additional spatial dimensions. In or daily lives, the ability to make choices is only possible because of the existence of two dimensions of time. A single timeline allows no deviation. Time would move forward deterministically. A second dimension of time is necessary (and sufficient) for the existence of free will.

Someone said no to Paris Hilton again - Poor Baby

2006-08-26T15:56:00.000+10:00

I just read this article from SFGate.com in which Paris Hilton gets pissed off with Ricky Gervais for not agreeing to have her in 'Extras'.

The funny parts are where she describes Gervais as "too insecure to work with an acress of my calibre" and describes herself as an "A-lister."

Three points:

1. Of the last 3 films I saw her in, 2 were amature porn (kudos on the fellatio - is that method acting?)

2. Everyone is on their own A-list.

3. Screw you, Paris. Get a real job.

The results are in - Planets come in 'classical' and 'dwarf' varieties

2006-08-25T10:10:00.000+10:00

The official results are in. The accepted definition of a planet is:

The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:

(1) A classical planet¹ is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

(2) A dwarf planet is a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape², (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.

(3) All other objects³ orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".

¹The eight classical planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
²An IAU process will be established to assign borderline objects into either dwarf planet and other categories.
³These currently include most of the Solar System asteroids, most Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), comets, and other small bodies.

Additionally, they have resolved:

The IAU further resolves: Pluto is a dwarf planet by the above definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects. This category is to be called "plutonian objects."

So what does this mean? Well, Ceres, Charon and 2003UB₃₁₃ have had their 15 minutes of fame and been demoted to dwarf planets, and the Pluto debate is resolved. Pluto is a dwarf planet. The prototype plutonian object. There is no further mention of barycentres, and no more Plutons.

The sordid history of Pluto's status has stirred a lot of emotion in a typically dry subject field. Since his discovery, 76 years ago, Pluto has become like the head of a household. His wife, Charon at his side, he has even recently had two little children, Nix and Hydra. Not even Bruce Willis could come up with better Hollywood names for his children!

The Family Pluto has had a rough time of it since the discovery of Tubby, or as it is officially known, 2003UB₃₁₃. (If anyone even mentions the popular name, Xena, I'll scream!) Pluto's status was under siege long before Tubby's discovery, but it was always put off by virtue of Pluto's status as the biggest of the Kupier Belt Objects (I guess we'll need to start calling them Plutonian objects now.) Tubby's size, at least equal to Pluto's, has destroyed any further chance of putting off Pluto's fate. But is it fate? Was Pluto always destined to be demoted?

If you look at the IAU resolution in detail (here) you will see two things. First, Pluto and his other hydrostatic equilibrium brothers are called dwarf planets - there's that P-word again! Second, the word 'classical' was added as an extra resolution. I like to think it was added as an escape clause, so from now on when someone asks is Pluto a planet, the answer will be:

"technically... yes."

Tags: Pluto, IAU, planet, adros47, Adros47s Online Headspace

Hot workmate!

2006-08-21T17:22:00.000+10:00

My colleague just left work for the day, muttering to himself, "I'm going home and putting on the air conditioning."

What the..? It's August! I can only imagine by February he'll be living in his fridge, and going for visits to the freezer if it gets REALLY hot!

Tags: colleagues, air conditioning, adros47, Adros47s Online Headspace

New Definition of Planets: Big Vacuum Cleaners

2006-08-20T13:27:00.000+10:00

Debate still rages over the definition of a planet according to New Scientist. See my recent post here.

The latest objections to the IAU's release last week are:

It would generate dozens (perhaps 200) planets in our solar system.
It would include round, but tiny bodies that happen to be made of loose or soft material.
It would eventually include our Moon (in a few billion years)
Moons with very elliptical orbits would switch back and forth from planet to moon status.

A counter proposal is for a planet tobe defined as:

"by far the largest body in its local population" and
sweeping up debris in a broad zone around their orbit.

At this point, I guess the only thing we can really say about planets is that they have big balls. So do the guys trying to define them. Maintain the Rage!

My brain is the friggin' universe!

2006-08-16T21:27:00.000+10:00

My brain is the friggin' universe!

Congratulations New Planets!

2006-08-16T19:20:00.000+10:00

Congratulations Ceres!
Congratulations Charon!
Congratulations 2003 UB₃₁₃!

In a sneak peak of next week’s announcement from the IAU's "planet definition committee" it appears, for the first time in astronomical history, we have a formal definition of a planet.

Humans have never had a proper definition of a planet. In ancient times the planets were observed in the night sky as moving – unlike the other stars. They were given then name ‘planet’, which means ‘wandering star’ in some ancient language (what am I, a historian?) However, with the discovery of asteroids and comets the definition of planets became somewhat more vague.

The big boomer of asteroids – Ceres – was discovered about 200 years ago and promptly called a planet. Then it was downgraded. Pluto was discovered about 75 years ago. Then they discovered the Kupier belt in the 1990s and Pluto’s status came into question. Is it a planet or a really big Kupier-Belt-Object?

All that changed in 2005 with the announcement of the discovery of our friend, 2003 UB₃₁₃ (whom I named Tubby, but everyone else call Xena – ugh!) Tubby is a KBO like the hundreds already discovered. Except for one small point – it’s bigger than Pluto! Is it a planet? No? Then why is Pluto a planet? What’s the definition of a planet, anyway? Etcetera, etcetera, argue argue argue. (That’s what astronomers do best.)

Committee Chair, Owen Gingerich, has revealed the new definition:

A body is a planet if:
1. It orbits a star, but is not a star
2. It’s mass is sufficient to pull the body into a spherical or near-spherical shape

There are the 8 classical planets (Mercury to Neptune), then all the other official planets, collectively called Plutons - including Pluto. I love it. I’m naming my first child Pluton!

So what does it capture? Ceres is back on the list. Hoo-Ah! Well done Ceres. Pluto stays on as a planet and welcomes it’s new arch-nemesis, Tubby. The surprise addition is Charon, Pluto’s little brother, previously classified as a moon of Pluto.

Charon is the really interesting case. It is a third the size of Pluto – that means it’s clearly smaller, but in proportion to the mass of its parent body, by far the biggest moon ever seen! Rather than tiny moons, which clearly orbit their parent planet, these two orbit each other in more of an embrace than a capture.

Nevertheless, you say, it’s smaller than Pluto. It’s a moon. If we add Charon, why not Titan, Ganymede, Iapetus or even our moon? Well, they don’t fit the above definition – they don’t orbit a star, they orbit a planet.

Charon is so big compared to Pluto that the gravitational centre of the Pluto-Charon system is actually at a point in space outside the physical boundary of Pluto. That’s the key. Technically, the Earth and Moon orbit each other while the Earth-Moon system orbits the Sun. However, because the Moon is so much smaller than the Earth, the gravitational centre of the system is deep within the Earth close to its centre. That’s the definition of an orbit and it separates Planet-Moon systems (like the Earth-Moon system) from double-planet systems (like Pluto and Charon.) Here's the IAU's explanation:

'For two or more objects comprising a multiple object system, the primary object is designated a planet if it independently satisfies the conditions above. A secondary object satisfying these conditions is also designated a planet if the system barycentre resides outside the primary. Secondary objects not satisfying these criteria are “satellites”. Under this definition, Pluto’s companion Charon is a planet, making Pluto-Charon a double planet.'

Sorry for all the tech speak – it makes me tingle all over.

So there you have it – the new grand tour: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, Tubby.

Apologies to Lucy Lawless - Xena can go screw herself.

Salty egg vegetable sponge liver pig soup

2006-03-11T15:38:00.000+11:00

Prepare to laugh - rahoi.com

YouTube - Real Life Simpsons Intro

2006-03-05T11:28:00.000+11:00

YouTube - Real Life Simpsons Intro

All I can say is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Ground Breaking Surgery

2006-02-11T12:10:00.000+11:00

Meet Isabelle Dinoire, the recipient of the world's first facial transplant. See the New Scientist article here.

Tags: face:transplant:Isabelle Dinoire:New Scientist:health:surgery

Technical problems

2006-02-03T17:35:00.000+11:00

Hi readers,

We aplologise for this blog's recent downtime. We have had a severe template problem, but the doctor says he'll be fine as long as he just keeps his finger out of there.

At least We're back online in a much watered down capacity. If you're looking for our customised items on the left-hand side of the blog like the email subscribe facility and tagcloud, they'll be back soon. In the meantime, forget all the bells and whistles for a change and read the bloody posts! Hope to be back to normal soon!

Yours sincerely,

The Adros47 team.

Tags: oops:crash:ouch:shit:that's gotta hurt!

Australian IT - Beach webcam tracks swimmers (Jennifer Foreshew, JANUARY 31, 2006)

2006-01-31T19:28:00.000+11:00

Australian IT - Beach webcam tracks swimmers (Jennifer Foreshew, JANUARY 31, 2006)

This is a nifty little thing - an outdoor movement-detecting camera that can identify people swimming outside the flags, but ignores people just walking on the beach. The article says the idea might be to 'patrol' beaches unmanned, but then you wouldn't get comments over the loudspeaker like the one I heard a couple of weeks ago at Coogee:

"Uh, to all beachgoing users. There's an influx of bluebottles now, so everyone take care and, um... feel free to keep swimming, but, like, take it easy. Yeah."

Tags: Australia:beach:camera:lifeguard:Coogee

Russian Inventor Patents Invisibility Cloak - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

2006-01-27T13:15:00.000+11:00

Russian Inventor Patents Invisibility Cloak - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

Is this for real? Gold nanoparticles? The image is intriguing. Check out the van's rear wheel through the body of the coat. It's all getting a but James Bond for my liking. See here and here about the MI5's WiFi rock. What will James Bond's 'Q' invent next? I hope I don't run into a missile launching BMW Z3 roadster next time I'm in heavy traffic!

Tags: Invisible coat:invisibility:spy:spies:british:russian:James Bond

New Scientist News - Sex before stressful events keeps you calm

2006-01-27T10:12:00.000+11:00

New Scientist News - Sex before stressful events keeps you calm

Oh the acronyms keep on coming! Sorry about the pun. I love "PVI". It has such a clinical dirtiness to it.

Tags: New Scientist:Sex:PVI:stress:science

Reimburse the Government for Spending Our Money?

2006-01-16T18:54:00.000+11:00

I saw on Today Tonight tonight an article about an idea from an ANU economist for rich sports stars to repay some of their profits to the Government. The argument goes like this:

Uni students have to repay most of their tuition fees under the HECS scheme and graduate in debt. AIS (Australian Institute of Sports) trainees graduate debt free as their tuition is paid for by the Australian tax payers (you and me.) If they make it big, why don't they repay some of their tuition fees to support further sports scholarships for the next generation?

Hmm... this sound OK, until you stop to think about it.

Unfortunately, that's not the way our nation works. The Government makes decisions every day about how to spend your tax dollars and mine. Sometimes they use it to pay for the salaries of the guy who calculates your Centrelink repayments. Sometimes they use it to hand straight back to you in a lump sum when you first buy a house and every time you have a baby. And sometimes they use it to encourage childhood sports by subsidising AIS tuitions. It's a Government expenditure. No-one would ever suggest asking a rich grandmother to repay the baby bonus she got twenty years ago or a Centrelink pensioner to repay some of the money used to pay for his family services officer's salary.

Comments?

Tags: Today Tonight:tax:Australia:Australian Government:AIS:sport:debt

Moon rocks taken from NASA instructor's car

2006-01-16T17:49:00.000+11:00

Moon rocks taken from NASA instructor's car

You can see why when "lunar rocks are worth several times more than high-quality diamonds of the same weight."

Tags: NASA:lunar:moon rock:stolen:theft

Australian Labor Party: Lost Super - Massive blow out to $8.2 billion

2006-01-16T17:25:00.000+11:00

This is a scary article from the ALP journal.

One in two adult Australians has "lost super".
Australian lost super is valued at $8.2 billion.

There's a 50% chance some of this is your own money. A wakeup call for all of us to conduct a simple online search to find ours!

Use the ATO's SuperSeeker or AUSfund's unclaimed super site, if you don't trust the .gov.au address!

Tags: ALP:Labor:lost super:superannuation:ATO

Stardust To Return Home Today

2006-01-15T14:26:00.000+11:00

NASA spacecraft Stardust was launched in 1999 and in 2004 collected particles of a comet for return to Earth. Those particles will hit the Earth's atmosphere tomorrow at speeds higher than any other returning spacecraft in history. Let's hope it comes home in better style than the Genesis craft. (see my previous post here.)

Tags: Stardust:NASA:Genesis:comet:comets

PM: 15 New Tech Concepts For 2006

2006-01-15T14:19:00.000+11:00

Here's a good article from Popularemechanics.com describing 15 new tech concepts that are currently out there, but are predicted to come to prominence over 2006. Study up tech-heads!

Tags: tech:concepts:popularmechanics:2006

Indians in Space (No, the other Indians...)

2006-01-15T14:08:00.000+11:00

It looks like India is doing some initial costing assessments for putting an Indian in space by 2015 under their own technology (see here.)

I think this is a fantastic move. There is a new not-so-unfriendly space race on with NASA and China both eying off the Moon by about 2015, NASA aiming for Mars by 2030. India, the second most populous nation on Earth certainly has the knowhow to get there.

Secondly, after Indian astronaut, Kalpana Chawla, was killed in the Columbia disaster of 2003 this is a great gesture of perseverance and optimism from the Indian people. Good luck!

Tags: Kalpana Chawla:India:space:manned:spaceflight:Moon

Singles lose out on tax cuts: Labor - National - smh.com.au

2006-01-14T19:45:00.000+11:00

Singles lose out on tax cuts: Labor - National - smh.com.au

By 2008 singles and childless couples will be paying $30 to $40 more than in 2001.

The tides have turned. Just like the "What About the Boys" articles of 5 years ago, after a period of media focus on support for girls. After the Government has spent so long pushing for families and children here come the "What About the Singles" articles.

About time. If the Government wants to increase the natural population growth rate, they should not do it at the expense of childless Australians.

The Science of Superman

2006-01-14T19:35:00.000+11:00

The Science of Superman

Nerd alert!

Tags: superman:science:nerd

Australian IT - Email accounts at risk - study (Jennifer Foreshew, JANUARY 12, 2006)

2006-01-14T19:05:00.000+11:00

Australian IT - Email accounts at risk - study (Jennifer Foreshew, JANUARY 12, 2006)

I have to say I am often guilty of using the same password for multiple applications and accounts, but they are the 'your password has expired, do you want to change it now?' type. All I have to do is remember one password, and write down a list of applications. When any one expires, I pull out my list (which has no compromising info on it) and update the lot one after the other with a new password so each month I only have to remember one password. I use letters and numbers, but that's as far as my personal security goes.

It's a well known problem - secure passwords are, by their very nature, hard to memorise and more than two passwords like jh3jh346b are impossible to maintain without clues, written notes or reminders.

You can use a password management program, but the data is limited to the single PC on which the program is installed. You can use an online password manager, but it sounds pretty dodgy. All your passwords stored out there in the ether to be hacked and cracked! One password to access all others? Bad security practice!

What do you use? What is best practice password maintenance?

Tags: Australia:password:passwords:security:online

PCWorld.com - San Francisco Airport Begins E-Passport Test

2006-01-14T18:45:00.000+11:00

PCWorld.com - San Francisco Airport Begins E-Passport Test

QANTAS staff have been testing these new e-passports for the Australian part of this international trial. The passports themselves have a stiff cardboard centre page with the chip embedded inside. As this article points out, the usual biodata saved on the chip is a digital photo. This is because of all possible biodata to be collected, authorities are allowed to gather height, gross description and had-and-shoulder photos in most countries, while fingerprints and DNA are off limits.

I have some direct experience in the security features of many types of passports, the usual methods of bypassing them and altering the details on the biopage and other pages, and the new technology used to limit counterfeiting. It is an escalating, evolving battle. New defences are overcome as new fraud tricks are discovered and countered. The e-passport is the latest defence in the ID fraud battle.

I don't think the simple storage of a digital photo as a defence against ID fraud has much merit. One of the most common occurances of passport ID fraud is photo-substitution. The classic execution is to slit the biopage somehow (front, back, side), slip out the original photo and slip a new photo in. Voila! New ID! The initial against this is to use printed images rather than photos glued into place. However, printed images can be erased and reprinted, but erasue marks and incorrect printing technique can foil these tactics.

The newest passports (including the latest 'M class' Australian passports) have two printed images. One in the usual place as a primary image, and another identical image as a watermark underneath the text printing on the right-hand side of the biopage. This is very difficult to erase effectively and a simple magnifying glass can identify alterations.

These measures are low-tech, but highly effective. Printed image erasure is difficult and can be detected by you and me using nothing more complicated than a magnifying lens. Detection methods can be taught to the armies of airline check-in staff who handle the documents every day and any individual handling the document in any situation can have a look for signs of fraud. As for the use e-passports, I don't see the merit in adding a digital photo, which is high-tech but low security. Electronic data is easy to alter and a simple gross examination will not identify it as such. One becomes reliant on the readers, which will be limited to Immigration officials at airports. These trials may well turn out to be very successful, but I think those implementing the measures are starry-eyes with technology and aren't looking to security effectiveness.

Tags: e-passport:airport:security:Australia:trial

Cyclops kitten no hoax - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

2006-01-14T01:02:00.000+11:00

Cyclops kitten no hoax - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

Check out this article... check out the picture. Truly, truly disturbing. I'd sqeal with fright if I wasn't numbed with alcohol right now.

The Australian: Review to take sting out of ID card plan [January 12, 2006]

2006-01-13T18:31:00.000+11:00

The Australian: Review to take sting out of ID card plan [January 12, 2006]

Wow, looks like we're going ahead with it! The best quote comes from Labor homeland security spokesman Arch Beavis:

The Government can't even operate the Aviation Security Identity card properly, with 384 cards having gone missing. How would it cope with a national ID card for almost 16 million Australians aged 16 years and above?

Tags: Australia:national ID card

Find Music You'll Love - Pandora

2006-01-13T18:24:00.000+11:00

Pandora is a great website based on a brilliant idea. You enter a song you like and Pandora will:

a) find other songs you might like based on the audio qualities of the entered song
b) tell you why it picked each song it did.
c) stream the songs for you and play them in an online playlist!

That is way cool! Try it!

Tags: Pandora:music:playlist:streaming

The Brain Channels Memories - It Doesn't Store Them

2006-01-13T17:58:00.000+11:00

Here's an article by quantum-spiritualist Deepak Chopra's blog.

It's a clever article highlighting the fact that images and meories don't exist in our brain until we think of them. Therefore, our brain doesn't store these 'thoughts' but crystallizes them from quantum wave function potentials of space-time.

If it's all a bit too much for you, then I can't blame you, it's very esoteric, but it did remind me of the scene in Michael Crichton's book 'Sphere' in which the main character speaks to the 'voice' inside the sphere. The voice tells him that imagining isn't just picturing something happening, imagining is what makes it happen.

I wonder if that's where Mr Chopra got his idea from. I hope he doesn't go on to describe the quantum potential for reanimating dinosaurs!

Tags: quantum:Deepak Chopra:biocommunication:Michael Crichton:Sphere:imagination:brain

The Australian: Nationals warm to ID card proposal [January 11, 2006]

2006-01-11T23:42:00.000+11:00

Looks like the Nationals want to bring the Australia card back again.

I've done a lot of work in the past relating to identity issues. The idea of a national ID card/register etc is a good one, but just not practical, I'm afraid. In the end it's just a card. Cards don't identify people. They're just cards. Photos, microchips, biodata, anti-tamper devices... They're all susceptible to adjustment.

You can certainly marry an identity to a card, but how do you tie the card to the human being? It's a murky topic and i haven't heard a good solution yet. In the end, if John Howard wants to prevent an Australian version of the London bombings he'll have to come up with something better than the good old Aussie Card.

Tags: Australia card:Government:national:biodata:security

Tips for getting to sleep faster & sleeping better

2006-01-11T23:36:00.000+11:00

Having trouble falling asleep? These tips are pretty good.

Tags: sleep

New Generations - New Challenges

2006-01-11T20:19:00.000+11:00

Tom Balen has written a very interesting article here on Online Opinion about Government outsourcing services to the market economy. The comments to this article emphasize the ‘me, me, me’ attitude of Aussie society in recent years and its continuing trend. My earlier posts (here and here) mention the same ‘me, me, me’ attitude in the Generation Y bunch – those 20 to 27 year olds, now rapidly taking over the rank and file (and very soon the executive) of both business and Government.

This ‘me, me, me’ generation, which is really nothing more than a cohort of consumerist children pampered by wealthy baby-boomer parents, is the latest in an ongoing cycle in which each generation of children, with their new ideas and attitudes as shaped by the preceding generations, rapidly permeates society and forces its new way of doing things onto the older generations. The problem here is that the ones responding to these sweeping social changes in the younger half of the population are the senior executives and Government officials who are members of the older, outmoded generation.

As each generation brings new concepts and ideas into the social marketplace, the oldies (John Howard, Alan Greenspan and Solomon Trujillo to name a few) respond with their traditional way of thinking and in most cases end up unconsciously impeding the change.

The current state of our society is much more consumer oriented than even 10 years ago thanks to the rapid swell of Generation Y adults swelling our demographics. Tom Balen’s ideas on a market based society and Globalisation may well be right for the current Generation no matter how much the Baby Boomers might hate the concept.

The real trick is the Generation Xers who will soon be running things from the top will need to be responding to the successors of the Generation Yers – the eGeneration. What new social changes will our wired children bring? Gen Xers – you’ve been warned!

Tags: generations:contractual deficit:eGeneration:Generation X:Generation Y:social contract:Australia:society

Perspective: Create an e-annoyance, go to jail

2006-01-11T19:42:00.000+11:00

It's illegal to post a blog comment anonymously? Is this article from News.com for real?

Tags: news.com:blog:comment:anonymous:illegal

Save Marriages Or Save Upper House Majority?

2006-01-11T19:22:00.000+11:00

In this SMH article, Andrea Brooks, a lawyer with Turner Freeman Lawyers has this to say about the Attourney General's divorce counselling plans:

"I suspect the Government's "battle plan" is a thinly disguised sop to the pivotal Family First senator Steve Fielding and conservative backbench MPs, rather than any serious attempt to address the divorce rate."

Good call.

Tags: Australia:parliament:divorce:Family First:SMH

The Day a Comet Crashed. Damn the Engineers!

2006-01-11T19:17:00.000+11:00

For those of you who don't remember the horror of 8 September 2004, let me refresh your memories. A space capsule named Genesis re-entered the Earth's atmosphere carrying tiny grains of cometary material back to Earth for study. The grains were so delicate and valuable; the scientists couldn’t even risk Genesis even touching the ground. The capsule was to float gently earthward on a trio of parachutes as specially trained Hollywood helicopter stunt pilots plucked it from midair in a one-shot bid to snare the interplanetary gold before it hit the contamination of the Utah desert dust.

The day came and Genesis hit the top of the atmosphere – the game was on. The stunt pilots were ready and waiting… Genesis’ parachutes failed to open, the thing plummeted like a bullet towards the ground and hit the contamination of the Utah desert dust at 310 km/h.
NASA announced their findings soon after and revealed that the pyros (little explosive bolts) to release the parachutes were frozen. This week, a new finding emerges:

“Lockheed Martin failed to do a critical prelaunch test that would have uncovered the flaw that doomed NASA's $264 million Genesis capsule, investigators have concluded.
The test would have revealed that four tiny switches designed to trigger the release of the Denver-built capsule's parachutes were installed backward.”

Oops! Read the whole article from Rocky Mountain News here.

Tags: Genesis:space:spacecraft:Lockheed Martin

Look. Here. Good. Women's Tabloids Keep the Masses Salivating

2006-01-11T19:00:00.000+11:00

Here's a hilarious article from SMH about celebrity snaps on the cover of Women's Weekly and other tabloid rags. It describes how we live for those 'real life' celebrity shots and how the granier they are the more we salivate over them and believe them. The ever cynical Lenny Ann Low expertly pumps our voyeuristic glands, then slaps us down with this beauty:

"The blurriness continues in NW with revelations that Angelina Jolie has telephoned Jennifer Aniston to share the happy news she is pregnant with Brad Pitt's baby. NW champions the claims of a "source", "insiders", "friends" and Brad's 83-year-old grandma, Betty, although six photographs of Jolie dressed in long black tops and coats don't offer much in the way of confirmation. Just in case readers weren't sure where babies came from, there's a big arrow to point out where Jolie probably keeps her womb."

Classic! I love those idiotic arrows. Look. Here. Look. Good. Now. Look.

Tags: women's weekly:photos:celebrities:angelina jolie:nw:pregnant

Our Glowing Milky Heart

2006-01-11T18:51:00.000+11:00

Here's a gorgeous view of the innermost 1% of our Milky Way galaxy in infra red, courtesy of Spitzer Space Telescope.

Tags: spitzer:space:telescope:milky way:infra red:IR:image

That's not how you play cricket!

2006-01-10T17:20:00.000+11:00

Since its introduction in 2003 in the English county leagues, Twenty20 Cricket has become a huge success here in Australia too. Australia’s first ever Twenty20 match was an exhibition match between Victoria and WA at the WACA in January last year. It filled the WACA to capacity for the first time in 24 years. Australia’s first Twenty20 competition, known as the Big Bash, commenced last Friday with Queensland thrashing Tasmania at the Gabba and Victoria just edging out WA at the WACA.

The four Big bash matches played so far (with two more underway as I write) have been amazing sales pitches (excuse the pun) for the new cricket format. The first match was an absolute trouncing, the other three being absolute nail-biters! In game 2, Vic beat out WA by 2 runs. In game three Vic trumped SA by one run, and again one run separated NSW from Qld in Game 4.

Oh the excitement! This is a three hour exciting version of the game that is drawing record crowds across the country. See my last post for the goings on in the crowd!

Our first international Twenty20 match was held yesterday. Australia was 3/209 after 20 overs easily holding of South Africa who were all out for 114 after 18.3 overs.

While everyone in the industry is delighted by the rejuvenation of cricket with the Twebty20 format, the real question will be: Does the three-hour format have the staying power to turn the game into a weekly club spectacle on the order of Rugby and AFL? Time will tell. I hope it does.

In the meantime, I suggest you keep Saturday January 21 free for the Big bash final!

Tags: cricket:twenty20:Australia

One way to make it to the big screen!

2006-01-10T17:14:00.000+11:00

This article from SMH is a real chortler. Apparently two women were cautioned by security at the cricket oval in Napier, New Zealand this weekend for kissing. Their kiss, caught on the big-screen, “upset two sensitive [Security] staff” according to a spokesman of the oval’s security company.

A local cricket official described the actions of the security guards as “overzealous.” The best quote, however goes to one of the kissers, twenty-year-old Kelly Holdway, who came out with, “My boyfriend was quite shocked.” I’ll bet he was!

Trade deficit - a sign of terror?

2006-01-10T17:12:00.000+11:00

The ABS figures announced today for the November trade credit and debit, show an almost doubling of our trade gap from A$1.4 billion to A$2.5 billion. A huge jump, even after taking into account the Customs computer-related bottleneck in October that ground our maritime import/export industry to a halt.

One of the big contributors to this jump was a 57% increase in the import of organic and inorganic chemicals.

Now I’m not an expert in organic and inorganic chemicals but I do hope someone is tracking this A$490 million cocktail of noxious imports. Perhaps I’m being ignorant and alarmist, (please let me know, but gently, I cry easily) but when I think about chemical imports I’m thinking ammonium nitrate, sodium hypochlorite or any number of other caustic goodies you might want to put in your mother-in-law’s mid-afternoon Irish Breakfast tea when she next comes to visit saying she’ll only stay for a week and then rearranges your kitchen and neuters the dog. So I would think it only prudent for one security agency or another to track a lot of this stuff to see where it goes.

It also begs the question: what has happened in Australia in the last three months to warrant an almost two-thirds increase in organic and inorganic chemical imports anyway? What are they for? Who’s buying them? I know my own chemical intake has been fairly low and I don’t remember placing any large orders recently.

If it does turn out to be a large increase in a potential bomb ingredient, all I can say is we should all remain alert for a potential 57% increase in suspicious packages and unattended baggage!

Tags: ABS:Australia:trade:chemical:chemicals:import:export

Logical Fallacies and How to Spot Them

2006-01-09T23:53:00.000+11:00

Logical Fallacies and How to Spot Them

A great title and a great site! Oh how the world would be if everyone sunscribed to a logical way of thinking!

Coming to Aussie TV in 2006!

2006-01-09T19:06:00.000+11:00

For those of you who love free to air Aussie TV – here’s what’s coming in 2006, thanks to SMH!

Tags: television:free to air:SMH:Sydney Morning Herald:TV:Australia

Workplace Relation Advertising Not Educational

2006-01-09T19:05:00.000+11:00

Nick O'Malley sounds surprised in this SMH article to learn that after the Government spent $46M on advertising for the new workplace relations legislation only 13% of employers felt they properly understood the changes.

Well, I don’t know what’s so shocking. This is the difference between a propaganda campaign and an education campaign. Look, people. Look, learn and see.

Tags: SMH:Sydney Morning Herald:Australia:Australian Government:workplace relations:legislation:employers:propaganda

Nova 969 teases the late Big Kev

2006-01-08T18:09:00.000+11:00

I was listening to Nova 969 the other day and I heard an add for beer goggles; I assume it was a joke add - you know, one of those usually humorous sound bites they throw at us to keep us hooked on what they're selling.

Now I usually only listen to the radio in the car (what do i listen to at home, you ask? Podcasts, my dear Watson, podcasts.) and when I do I surf my preset stations. My preset stations are:

1. ABC Classic FM
2. Nova
3. Today FM
4. MMM
5. TripleJ
6. Mix 106

Now, some of those stations are there simply because I'm too lazy to finds better ones. For those of you with a bit of frequency knowledge, yes, the listed stations are in frequency order. Don't you love the auto scan-and-set feature! Anyway, when I'm driving and I turn the car radio on I usually decide what I want to listen to first, then flick on the radio and punch the shit out of those six preset buttons until I hear what i like. If I can't find anything, I won't give them the satisfaction of settling for something second-rate. I turn the radio off and try again in 5 minutes. I avoid listening to adds and I don't like all that annoying talking they do between songs. (I say ‘between’ but that usually includes most of the song’s intro and half the ending as well.)

Anyway, back to beer goggles. The add implied that through beer goggles even the ugliest guy looks red hot, and who did they use as their example guy?

“Hi, sexy, what’s your name.”
“My name’s Big Kev.”
“You’re cute, want to come back to my place?”
”I’m excited!”

Now I was about to chuckle at the plight of all those ugly fatties out there, when I realised that at the time, Big Kev was less than two weeks into the grave! And no-one at Nova pulled the plug on it?

Shame, Nova, shame. (I do listen to a bit of talk radio as well…)

Tags: Nova 969:Nova:Big Kev:radio

Tunatic

2006-01-08T18:08:00.000+11:00

How good is this little program! It's called tunatic and it listens to music (via a computer microphone) and identifies it through an online database. Yes, that's right it identifies a song on nothing more than hearing it through a microphone. Simple as that! I'v eplayed around with it and it has a few shortcomings, mainly associated with the small size of it's online database, but I can only assume it's growing. Oh, and if you hum a song, it can't help you. Either that or I just can't hum songs. Give it a try!

Tags: tunatic:audio:music:identification

The Fryin', the Beach and the Bored Droves

2006-01-01T10:56:00.000+11:00

I spent a couple of days over the last week doing something I've never done in my life: lying in the sun on the beach.

You heard me - never.

I am one of those kids who grew up being told by Mum and Dad, "If you go out in the sun, ever, you will die." So I never did. I've probably developed a mutation allowing me to generate vitamin D through the consumption of beer. Or is that Vitamin B? Suffice to say I never need to wear a fluro-reflective safety vest - my day-glo white cancer-free skin is visible as a small point of light from as far away as Neptune.

A few weeks a go I did the Coogee to Bondi walk and I loved it. Here's on of the best pics I could find on the web, from fabulousredhead.com.

So I returned to Coogee a couple of times over the past week and discovered the joy of lying in the sun - just a little bit. I did feel a little bit guilty in a vague non-specific way - I guess I know how Christians feel now - but overall, it was so relaxing I never would have guessed.

Of course the usual precautions were taken; I was swimming in sun cream and it was four in the afternoon. However, the sun was still hot, the crowd was well-behaved, heavily tanned and half naked. In fact, after getting a few stares at my prominent untanned gut, I started apologising randomly to anyone who walked passed my beached-whale-chic not quite matching their porn-star-bronze. My first view of the overcrowded beach gave me a distinct impression that a plane load of half naked humans had simply been dropped from 30,000 feet and lay where they landed. Droves of bored, mindless sun-worshippers slowly ploughing the sand in their slow animalistic way, watched over by a shepherd in the form of a yellow-and-red surf life saver with the name of the suburb emblazoned cheekily across ther back of his speedos.

The best part of the day was the life guard's broadcast announcement that with the high tide there were a few bluebottles coming in and everyone near the water's edge should take it easy and, uh, yeah, everyone, uh, um... yeah. Just... er, take it easy. So we took it easy. It wasn't particularly, uh, hard.

A couple of days later, of course, I was lying next to my friend's pool on a particularly overcast day without dousing myself in a litre of sun cream and I got a bit burned. Maybe I just haven't got the hang of the whole relaxing thing yet. I'll keep trying.

Tags: beach:summer:Bondi:Coogee:Sydney:Australia

Google softening it's push - conceding limits to satellite imagery software

2005-12-27T14:10:00.000+11:00

See this article from Israel national News for an interesting article, the headline (above) basically sums it up. I can see the argument to limit access to satellite photos of sensitive installations, especially in that unstable region. It's also not surprising that Israel has obviously pushed hard to get this concession. What is suprising is that Google has agreed. Word on the cyberstreet is that the Australian Government pushed to have images of the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor removed or limited from Google satellite sites and programs but Google didn't conceed.

Perhaps Google has taken some fallout from its aggressive push to digitise and catelogue the entire world - most controversially in the areas of satellite mapping and print publishing - where security protocols and international copyright law are being bent (if not broken.)

2006 might be the year of Google - not such a bad guy after all! We'll see how GoogleWatch reacts!

Tags: google:israel:google maps:google earth:security:military

Japan aims to give Google run for its money - Technology - smh.com.au

2005-12-19T17:04:00.001+11:00

Well, good for good ol' Japan. This doesn't really come as any surprise except that they made the mistake of announcing it to the world. Develop in secret, release with fanfare. They're so hard working, but when will they learn?

Hang on, since they're so good at announcing, maybe they can tell us where that midget sub is!

Tags: Japan:Google:Yahoo:search engine

But:Nobody:Told:Me...

2005-12-19T17:04:00.000+11:00

I had to laugh when I read Aussie film crew caught in Philippines gun clash from SMH today:

Cameraman Michael Beran was angered that the group had not been warned of unrest in the area.
"We went there to film a movie. No one told us we were going to an island where there's trigger-happy people intent to shoot you," he told Seven.

When I went to The Philippines earlier this year, everybody said, "Oh it's a great place, but don't go to Mindanao, they shoot you." I can't believe this crew from Seven went to Mindanao and no-one told them about the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf operating out of Mindanao, kidnapping and murdering westerners.

I guess he didn't read Smarttraveller, where in the dangerous parts of Mindanao the advisory is Do Not Travel, and in the rest of Mindanao it's Reconsider Your Need To Travel. Maybe he reconsidered and the paycheque was too good.

I can just imagine next year's overseas post for Mr Beran, "But no-one told me Baghdad was dangerous. Why didn't you tell me? Show me where it's written down. No, you need to tell me explicitly, you can't assume I'd know. No, I don't think it's unreasonable! Oh, you mentioned it five or six times? Oh. Well, OK then. Next scene."

Tags: SMH:Sydney:Australia:Sydney Morning Herald:Philippines:Mindanao:Baghdad:Smarttraveller:Abu Sayyaf:terrorists:terrorist group

Tanveer Ahmed argues there is a specific segment of the Lebanese community in Sydney causing the unrest. - On Line Opinion - 15/12/2005

2005-12-18T20:17:00.000+11:00

One comment from this article caught my eye:

"The behaviour of some of the drunken louts was a national disgrace. There is no argument there. But, there is a Lebanese problem. It is not an Arab problem, nor is it really a Muslim one."

The article goes on to examine the Lebanese society both in Lebanon and here in Australia. The author, Dr Ahmed, a psychiatrist and a writer, analyses the specific reasons for the disproportionately large number of nocturnal 'bad boys' and gang members being Lebanese. Among other reasons he attributes it to absent fathers, unsuccessful parenting and the Muslim tendency to attitudes of female inferiority.

It seems to me the answer, in this simplified analysis of the situation is fairly clear. Firstly, we all need to acknowledge that society is dynamic and changing on a slow but observable scale. This means there will always be a 'gang niche' in Sydney's society and nightlife and that it is currently filled by south-western suburb Lebanese, but this could change and in the future, any cultural or demographic group is susceptible to falling into the role. This bit is really important because society tends to have a static view of things. Views and attitudes tend only to change from one generation to the next, which is even slower than social dynamics change. There are a group of Australians who are absorbing all the current anti-Leb sentiment and will carry it with them forever - long after the Lebanese gangs cease to cause trouble.

Secondly, if it is so obvious that over the course of a few years it can be observed what demographic group is forming the majority of the troublemakers it makes sense that that group may well become the perpetrators or victims (or both) of further unrest in the future. All you really have to do is look different and attack a lifeguard!

So finally, it seems clear to me the solution is to analyse these statistics - who is perpetrating what - and focus on the largest demographic groups. Focus social programs, focus cultural grants, focus education campaigns, public spending on schools and hospitals. Ease the tensions as they arise before it explodes. It's a never-ending, spotfire way of doing things, but then again, so is governing a nation.I'm sure the community leaders, police, multicultural affairs representatives and the like could easily sit down and hammer out some good social programs to quell any rising concerns in the community, long before it reaches boiling point. Actually, I'm sure they already do. I guess my point is they could do it better and perhaps in a more systematic way.The next race riots will probably involve the Antarcticans. No one trusts the Antarcticans!

Read the article here.

Tags: Cronulla:violence:demographics:Sydney:Australia:social programs

Harry:Potter and the English:Curse

2005-12-18T11:46:00.000+11:00

I saw Harry Potter last night, in my defence it wasn't my choice, but I did enjoy it so say what you will.

As I watched the film I noticed the star, Daniel Radcliffe, had changed in appearance since the first film, four long, magic-filled years ago. As with most child stars, the awkward (how bloody hard is it to spell that word!!!) teenage years hit and the angelic little ten-year-old with the lightning scar on his forehead has developed a nasty case of Prince Charles syndrome. Unfortunately, as particularly noted in Princes William and Harry as they mature, it is no longer clear which one takes after his mother and which his father. Both have changed appearance and if there was ever a 'handsome' one and an 'ugly' one I suggest they may have swapped places, at least according to teen girlie magazines. (What, you don't read them?)

Daniel Radcliffe has wizzed his way into puberty on the big screen and has certainly lost some of those round-cheek-round-eye features, that I am sure helped him win the part of 11-year-old Harry back in 2001. His newfound hooked nose certainly stands out on screen, (did he break it or something?) and I think the makeup lady will be doing overtime on his next film.

Added trivia: Apparently the first Harry Potter movie was called "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the USA, presumably because the average movie going American wouldn't know what a philosopher was if it bit them in the archetypal form.

Tags: Harry Potter:Daniel Radcliffe:puberty:Prince Charles:philosopher:sorcerer

My:Books

2005-12-18T00:06:00.000+11:00

I have realised a lot of you may have never seen my book collection. I call it impressive, others call it sad and oh-my-God-you're-such-a-nerd.

Tags: book:books:photo:photos

Soft:Aussies - the:Asian:Drug:Haven

2005-12-17T22:45:00.000+11:00

The Singapore press and the ASEAN leaders are whispering about Australia being soft on drugs for fighting against the death penalty. There's a can of worms burst all open! Let the politics begin!

Our response has been a bit soft - "No we're not. We're hard on drugs. Er, don't um, do drugs."

Tags: Singapore, ASEAN, drugs, world politics, death penaly

The Floodgates are Open

2005-12-17T22:39:00.000+11:00

picture source

The violence in Cronulla has opened the floodgates to a huge outpouring of emotional please for tolerance and racial acceptance. The talk-back radio stations are broadcasting non-stop call-in discussions where Aussies with ethnic backgrounds are revealing the history of this kind of intolerance going back thirty or fourty years in Australia. According to what I'm hearing the 'Lebs', Greeks and other dark skinned Aussies have always been considered 'less Aussie' than the Anglos. I have been hearing dozens of stories of growing up with the sideways looks and the distance the Anglos are keeping from the 'darkies'. Racism in the 70s and especially in the last 5 years.

As much as John Howard would like to push the Government's "we're not a racist country" line (while he jets off to Malaysia tonight) it just doesn't appear to hold water. One Nation, September 11, the Lebanese rapists, the London bombings and the anti terror movement have awakened a sleeping tiger and the Lebs and the Muslims are taking the heat.

Right now it's hard to deny we are a racist country. One Nation, however briefly it existed, legitimised anti-immigration sentiment for the forseeable future and the Howard government's own Immigration policy hardly puts out the welcome mat. Our anti-terror message has clearly awakened the sleeping giant.

I can only hope that this opportunity of open discussion is used to slay the beast that has reared its ugly head, and not to soothe it. It lives in each of our hearts. The choice is ours.

Tags: Cronulla:racism:Australia:Sydney:terror:terrorist:terrorists:london bombings:John Howard:One Nation:September 11

A Current Affair - Christmas in schools

2005-12-13T19:05:00.000+11:00

I just watched an article on A Current Affair, in which one non-Christian family complained about all the references to Christmas in the school news letter. One teacher apoligised to the family and now the community is up in arms saying she should not have apologised and what the hell is wrong with the school celebrating Christmas?

The article went on to describe how the family's son was excluded from music class for refusing to sing "Away in a Manger".

One indignant community leader said: "What's wrong with singing a few Christmas carols? We should call it the silly season. It's begun for sure!"

WHAT AN ASSHOLE!

As a non-Christian myself, I have grown up irritated by the overload of commercialised Christian holiday crap and absolutely flabbergasted at the vast majority of this country's ignorant Christians who don't even equate MYER's pre-Christmas Xbox 360 sale with the birth of "Our Saviour". Who does that selfish community leader think he is? I'll tell you what the hell is wrong with singing Christmas carols - YOU'D be the first loudmouth ignoramus to complain if some school started forcing Ramadan Rhymes or Hanukah Hymns down some stranger's kid's throat.

Annoying shit I've grown up with perpetrated by ignoramus majority Christians:

pre/post Christmas adds from October to February
non religious Christians revelling in the 'festive season'
questions like - "Yeah, you don't celebrate Christmas but you still believe in Jesus, right?"
no bloody shops open on Christmas day when on every other public holiday everything is open
assholes like the one mentioned above who can't see why anyone would get upset about some innocent Christian propaganda

Maybe I'm being harsh, but so is that guy. Why doesn't he stop and think? What a prick, he makes my non-Christian blood boil!

Season's Greetings!

Tags: Christmas, Christmas carols, non-Christian, Australia, non-Christians, intolerance

The Next Generation

2005-12-12T22:40:00.000+11:00

I wrote a post last week called Generations, Chromosones and Senility about social generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. That took us from 1946 to 1985. This post from ON LINE opinion is an excellent article about masculinity among our 20-year-old males and their younger brothers (and sisters.) It's the 1985 and onward post-Generation Y crowd. The current generation. The author of the article, Peter West, calls them the computer generation, but I prefer...

eGeneration.

Tags: Generation X, Generation Y, Baby Boomer, Baby Boomers, eGeneration, on line opinion, masculinity

What We're Saying about the Violence

2005-12-12T21:57:00.000+11:00

Everyone's commenting on the Cronulla Race Violence (CronRaV™). I don't want to comment on the violence, but I do have some comments about the commenters.

We all watched Paris erupt in violence a couple of months ago. My first thought was "Muslims in France? Bonjour-Salaam!" I guess Jean-Pierre is watching TV news in Paris, wondering about those Muslims in Australia! Quel Bizarre!

Let's not kid ourselves, the world is watching. Word is the international news media converged on Cronulla yesterday and they're all still there reporting, filming, blogging. Whatever I, you, she, he thought about those French Muslims... the rest of the world is thinking it about us now. About Cronulla. About you.

The world knows four things about Australia's race relations/human rights history:

1. We displaced and mistreated the Aboriginal inhabitants
2. We flirted with a little thing called the One Nation Party a few years ago
3. We use the Department of Immigration like a foreigner deterrent using fear
4. We tell the Chinese to shape up and follow our good example.

Hmm... not a good track record. It's funny the way people reacted to the news of Muslim unrest in France and how the same people are reacting to the home-grown stuff.

Conversation around town is subdued and coffee shops are full of tête-a-tête couples with concerned faces. The boozy conversation at the pub last night - watching the more palatable hatred of Danny Green and Anthony Mundine in the boxing - was silenced as for five minutes the bar manager switched over to the news to watch the live updates. We all gazed in silence and then went back to our conversations, but the whispering was all around. "Gee that's scary." "It's just terrible."

It's funny that none of the reactions I've seen have been about one side or the other in the argument. No one I hear is saying "I support the Bra Boys! Let’s retaliate!" "This is my country! Send 'em all home!" People are all just disgusted by the violence - and what it could symbolize. The vibe I've been getting around town is a fear of the racial polarisation. People are cringing back from the words "white supremacists" and "racial hatred". We don't want to be that kind of society. That's the big fear now – are we really a racist society? It's something that is scaring people.

Some will say it’s just the undercurrent coming to the surface. Pollies vehemently disagree – unanimously. The Prime Minister says the events are sickening, but not indicative of a wider problem. So does Kim Beazley. Are bipartisan politics overshadowed by the fear of a bad global image? Or is it a genuine political fear of a breakdown of society? I guess it’s just the right thing to do and I’m being cynical.

I don’t know if I’m irritated by this country’s concern for it’s world image or if I’m proud our reaction is overwhelmingly one of condemnation of the violence – regardless of the message of either side.

I guess I’m both. Like usual. What else is on TV, the cop shows bore me.

Tags: Cronulla, racial hatred, Sydney, riot, riots, Muslim, Muslims, violence

Say No (prescription and over the counter) Drugs!

2005-12-12T08:12:00.000+11:00

I notice the following two articles from SMH and New Scientist go hand in hand.

In one article we see a drop, for the first time, in the sale of drugs provided by the Pharmaceutical Benifit Scheme. According to the article:

Medical leaders believe the drop in drug use reflects a more cautious approach by doctors and patients, triggered by better pharmaceutical education and findings of potentially lethal side effects in some drugs, including the once popular pain-killer Vioxx.

The other article describes a new finding that overdoses of good ol' Paracetamol can lead to fatal liver failure. Yikes!

As a symbol of independance, endurance, machoism and what-if-you-were-lost-in-a-desert thinking, I usually avoid taking any drugs, including Paracetamol (this doesn't apply to antihistamine – hayfever sucks!) and now I see the trend catching on. I always thought if you have a headache you don't take Paracetamol – you just identify the cause and avoid it next time. healthy living people!

Damn I could use a smoke!

Tags: SMH, Sydney Morning Herald, New Scientist, drugs, paracetamol, prescription, prescriptions

Miracle wedding

2005-12-12T08:00:00.000+11:00

I read in the SMH this morning this article about a wedding in London where the bride lost both legs and 75% of her blood in the July 7 London bombings. Wow.

Tags: London bombing, London, wedding

New Scientist Breaking News - Smart inbox cuts email drudgery

2005-12-11T23:49:00.000+11:00

New Scientist Breaking News - Smart inbox cuts email drudgery

This article is about a new free Microsoft product called SNARF (yeah, snarf you too!) which prioritises the huge load of emails in your inbox after a long absence. It goups them by sender, then prioritises them according to how many times and how quickly you have responded to each sender in the past.

This sounds great (especially the free bit!) but theory only works in practise in theory. In practise this is not always so. Umm... yeah.

Tags: new scientist, email, microsoft

Reading list using Del.icio.us

2005-12-11T13:44:00.000+11:00

I've discovered a great use for Del.icio.us! I read so many daily feeds referring to such great sites, I usually click on a link to skim in a new window, but this usually causes an exponential explosion of windows (well tabs actually, I use Firefox) and I don't usually give these articles the attention they deserve. So I've started using del.icio.us as a reading list. I just use my post to del.icio.us tool and among other tags I give each site, I add a "toread" tag as well. That way in my few snippets of free reading time, I can go back over them all at leisure.

Tags: del.icio.us, tags, tag, reading list, ,

Holy shit! What a good feed!

2005-12-11T13:36:00.000+11:00

This post from Spyhunter highlights a fantastic product - The toilet paper RSS feed printer! Read all your favourite feeds as you sit and think! Cool!

Hmm... nah, crap.
Crap!
Crap!
Ah, here's a good one, oh crap!

Tags: rss, printer, taiwan, spyhunter, crap, ,