Man stick insects are cool

9 April 2006 – 1:38 pm

Noticed this giant stick insect outside my window the other night and had to take a photo.

It was the biggest one I’d ever seen!

Stick Insect 3

Stick Insect 2

Stick Insect 1

By Colonel | Posted in Random | Comments (1)

Travelling it up again!

17 March 2006 – 12:50 pm

The MON team is at it again. Three members, Dex, Devslashtux and myself will be back in New Zealand in August this year.

And this time we’re travelling together.

Three members of the MON team, together in a foreign country.

New Zealand won’t know what hit it!

Of course we’ll keep you all post with plenty of trip reports and photos when we return. (Which is a long way off since we aren’t leaving until August)

By Colonel | Posted in Travel | Comments (2)

Why Daylight Savings Time is a Waste of Time; or: How to fall from ladders

13 March 2006 – 9:39 am

Daylight savings is one of those things which sounds like a good idea – in theory. In reality, at least in Australia, it’s become an absolute pain in the arse.

History of DST

Historically, the idea of daylight savings time was invented during World War I – and not by the British as most people believe, but rather it was the German government who first enacted daylight savings time. Shortly thereafter, the British said “This sounds like a smashing idea! Let’s follow suit!” – well, possibly not… But they did follow suit.

In the good ‘ole US of A, they too followed along – but soon abandoned it again because farmers complained. And let’s not forget the people who said it was interfering with “Gods Time” (Woodrow Wilson – amongst many).

Why is daylight savings a waste of time?

I propose three reasons:

  1. Confusion

    At each change of time, there is always a percentage of the population who gets left behind. The economic costs of having this group is probably quite substancial – although it’s probably not exclusively daylight savings fault.

  2. Communications

    To ensure reliable communcations, it is vital to have clocks set accurately on communications systems. Each time daylight savings begins or ends, it is enevitable that some systems will not apply these changes correctly – requiring manual intervention.

  3. Ladders

    Yes, ladders. These ancient implements consist of bits of wood or metal linking two parallel bits of wood or metal – for those of you who have never seen one.

    Clocks are often put in logical places – at the top of tall towers, large signs or placed convieniently on a high wall.

    Ladders are the most likely method of access for many of these clocks. There is an economic cost involved to get someone to climb the ladder and adjust the clock – and that is no-doubt substancial. But there is also the more sinister cost of those people who fall from these ladders.

Therefore, daylight savings is a waste of time.

Oh, and time = money (in a 1:1 ratio (but only on tuesdays))

By devslashtux | Posted in Random | Comments (5)

Things that annoy me

25 February 2006 – 11:31 am

I’ve been really unimpressed with Australian free to air broadcaster Channel 7′s coverage of the Winter Olympic Games in Torino.

No live coverage at all! In this day of mass electronic media it’s impossible not to know the results before they’re aired 12 hours later in the evening on Channel 7 taking away all the excitement and anticipation of the event.

And on top of that cheesy, uninteresting commentary certainly hasn’t helped liven up the action.

And finally, not enough snow boarding, skiing, ice hockey or curling… far too much figure skating!

By Colonel | Posted in Entertainment | Comments (2)

The NZ Trip Report of Ultimate Doom (Part 3)

19 February 2006 – 9:10 am

After a suspenseful wait, I hereby present the third and final part of my NZ trip report.

Read Part One, and Part Two.

Read More »

By devslashtux | Posted in Travel | Comments (6)

The Reign of King Farcomb the Magnificent

18 February 2006 – 12:58 pm

A play if three parts…

Cast:

King Farcomb
Jeremiah the Adviser (Or Advisor)
Marco the Magician
Queen Thelmalouisa
The Little Known Roger Kirby Experience
Thomas of Gorganzola
Francais of Almathazua
A Random Passing Elk Remix Tribute Band

Part 1 – The fall of greatness!

King Farcomb: I do exclaim these pantaloons fit excellent.
Jeremiah the Adviser (Or Advisor): Thankyou sire I ordered them from The
Little Known Roger Kirby Experience.
King Farcomb: The man does good work.
The Little Known Roger Kirby Experience: Thank you. The main ingrediant is
paprika.
Queen Thelmalouisa: My Lord, your enemies approach.

A Random Passing Elk Remix Tribute Band approaches.

A Random Passing Elk Remix Tribute Band: Werd up dig’it?
King Farcomb: Mine enemies have thwarted me. My rule is at an end. I’m
done for.

Part 2 – Rock Bottom?

King Farcomb: Life is tragic. I was King, now I’m not. Damn that A Random
Passing Elk Remix Tribute Band.

Thomas of Gorganzola approaches.

Thomas of Gorganzola: My lord. The kingdom grows weak in your absence. You
must retake the thrown.
King Farcomb: I’m sorry, but my throwning days are done. Besides, that
castle was too drafty. I’m doing much better with internet stock.
Thomas of Gorganzola: Ah, sir… the internet bubble broke last week.
King Farcomb: It did? Oh noes, my jacuzzi suit! And to think, I had a
million shares in email for mooses.

Part 3 – The end of magnificence…

The Little Known Roger Kirby Experience: Man, that King Farcomb was a magnificent guy wasn’t he?
Jeremiah the Adviser (Or Advisor): Actually he got on my nerves.
The Little Known Roger Kirby Experience: Why?
Jeremiah the Adviser (Or Advisor): Do I have to explain it to you to? No wonder my pantaloons are crooked.

Part 4 – Wasn’t this three parts?

Marco the Magician: I didn’t get a part!
Francais of Almathazua: Neither did I!
Marco the Magician: Yeah but I can do magic.
Francais of Almathazua: So what? I eat fried pork for dinner.
Marco the Magician: You sir are a greater man then thy.

Anyone attempting to perform this play is silly.

By Colonel | Posted in Random | Comments (4)

What’s in a nickname (redux)

17 February 2006 – 11:35 am

Now for some more self indulgent tripe.

On the old website I asked, what exactly is in a nickname? They come from all sorts of influences and are derived from various circumstances (even random is a circumstance). Some people use them, some people don’t. It’s a very intricate system which definitely keeps me up the night and straight until morning.

There is one case that confuses me. The 1976 film Caddie details the life of a down-on-her-luck single mother of the same name, dealing with the depression. The problem is that her name isn’t really ‘Caddie’, it’s actually short for Cadillac, as in the car. Some random walks into the bar she works in and claims she’s as beautiful as the car he drives. Annoyed at first, she accepts it and uses it to the point where a later lover calls her by this name. Anyway…

 They are useful, screennames. No doubt some people don’t even use their regular nickname because they’re too personal (and others will use their full name). I tend to change peoples ‘nick’name all the time (by that, I mean names only I use), though it no doubt annoys people.

http://www.timeout.com/film/68705.html

By Snaykeemcgee | Posted in Random | Comments (1)

The NZ Trip Report of Ultimate Doom (Part 2)

7 February 2006 – 3:27 pm

This is part two of my NZ trip report from January 2006. You can read part one here.
Enjoy!

Read More »

By devslashtux | Posted in Travel | Comments (1)

The NZ Trip Report of Ultimate Doom (Part 1)

4 February 2006 – 12:01 pm

Kia Ora,

This is the second of two MON Productions NZ trip reports. As Colonel (Matt) mentioned earlier, we both travelled to NZ completely independently of each other. Not only did we travel to the same country, we also visited many of the same places.

Since I was in NZ for about a month, this is part one of my adventure.
Read More »

By devslashtux | Posted in Travel | Comments Off

LCA2006 Photos on Flickr

28 January 2006 – 10:54 am

Just a quick note: I’ve got some photos from LCA2006 over on Flickr for your consumption!

Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/monproductions/

By devslashtux | Posted in linux.conf.au | Comments Off