doing things backwards?

I've come to the conclusion that I'm possibly losing weight at the wrong time of the year. Most people would probably try to lose weight to look good in the summer time...but here "down under" I started my weight loss program at the end of Summer heading into Autumn. We're just experiencing our first coldish weather for the year and I'm starting to wonder if a reduction in "insulation" going into winter is a good thing. I mean bears eat heaps, fatten themselves up and sleep through winter don't they? (not that we have bears here in Oz). In the northern hemisphere they "fatten up" things for Christmas Dinner in their winter. But here am I trying to shed the fat and the cold season is approaching. Shouldn't complain, being a coastal dweller it really does not get that cold here as technically we are in a "Sub Tropical" climate. The up side is we are taking a holiday in the winter up to the warmer latitudes, the Whitsundays region on the Great Barrier Reef...with any luck it might even be warm enough up there to go snorkeling etc....so a few inches off the waistline won't hurt! (Like most middle aged males I am under the delusion that I'm only a few push-ups away from being ripped like Mr Universe...LOL)

....reminds me, must go for a walk today

cecil

treadmill power generation

Just did five k's on the treadmill as it's a bit damp outside today for my daily walk and was thinking...why don't we reverse the technology of the treadmill.....instead of it using power to move the belt for us to walk on why can't we use our legs to push the treadmill belt and generate power to put back into "the grid"!...same thing could work for exercise bikes! I might be a bit more inclined to jump on and sweat out a few k's if it meant I was cutting a few bucks off the power bill.......and get the kids into it....the "potholes" jump over each other here to get a go on the treadmill! "Sure Jimmy, you can watch Cartoon Network..but you provide the power for the TV!"

If the government is giving rebates for us all to install solar panels on our roofs and pump our excess juice back into "the grid" then surely they can cough up a few for us to buy power generating exercise gear...and it would help tackle the obesity epidemic / take some load off our health system....the benefits are enormous!.

And a Gym owner would become a small power plant owner!...not only would he save on his power bill.... he gets to charge his clients for the privilege of saving him money....cool! You could even target the "Green Set"..."Exercise at our Gym and save your life AND the planet!"

... I can feel a business venture coming on

cecil

Bits

Had a blackout last night....ah Energy Australia strikes again!..
......anyway , this morning I had to re-boot the ADSL modem and noted the highest sync speed since changing to ADSL2 ...4918Kbps. Our "distance" from the exchange here when calculated by our downstream attenuation of 51db vs 13.81 db loss per km of copper wire is about 3.7 km's. I suspect I could achieve higher speeds using HSPA mobile technology!!!.
.......roll on the new "high speed" internet infrastructure Mr Rudd!!!! (Though from what I've read our new High Speed is outdated before we even get it.....typical!)

new ubuntu release

The New Release for the Linux Operating System distribution Ubuntu is on the way:



the beta test version is available now.....

cecil

Shake it off!!!

I've been a long time critic of the diet shake industry, but have succumbed to requests from the Princess Bride to join her in a quest to reduce our waistlines, and as have such embarked on a diet shake frenzy!
Now I have to admit...something had to be done...I had blown out to an all time high score of 123 kilos...(I was 115 the month before Christmas...what happened?). A simple walk to the school with the potholes and back had me completely puffed!
I've been "shaking" for a month now and have lost just over 10 "killergrams"...the walk to school and back is a breeze now by comparison and feel I need to extend my walks so I'll start coming home the long way next week.
I don't expect the rate of loss to continue, the next ten are going to be harder to lose I'm sure!
And d'you know what I crave the most?....Vegemite!!!! ...Struth it's hard making breakfast or lunches for the boyz and smelling the 'ol yeast extract!!.....I don't miss all the bread, pasta, rice and spuds etc. at all, and have a renewed love affair with salads and vegies...(I'm still not a big fruit eater).
....Keep on shakin'

Dangerous Rodents!

The Pitts folding@home team has been relaunched by team founder Kiso under the new name Danger Mice. A new website is being constructed by Kiso and Miss Magoo with links to contributing team members pages. New members Keplerspeed and Emu legs are a welcome boost to the team numbers. Currently team Danger Mice have achieved over 158,000 points / 700+ workunits.

...Keep on Folding!

overcommitments

Ah.... football season has hit with the force of a Mack truck this year! 2 of the potholes are playing, with one of them also junior reffing we are in for a big year of football. And trial games...don't get me started!
We have just come home from "Rocketman's" first trial he has another this coming weekend as well as reffing the new SSF (Small Side Football) trial games that "Herbie" is playing in. (also this weekend). Between now and then we have training on two different nights, and the other commitments like Tennis for the "D-Man" , Art class for "Rocketman" and "Herbies" swimming.
Barely time to scratch oneself......

which way is the wind blowing?

....taken from todays Hunter area forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology website.

Forecast for Thursday
Isolated afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Local early fog patches. Light to moderate west to northwest winds tending southeast to northeast.

...that reads... west to northwest winds tending southeast to northeast......

so it's:

a) covering all bases
b) we have absolutely no idea...but there will be wind
c) all directions at once
d) all of the above

Serious Error

...just logged into the Win XP box in the lounge room

up pops the 'ol "Your System has recovered from a serious error" message

so I thinks to myself "The system (windows) IS a serious error!!!"

....but then again I'm glad its not Vista



I'm going back to the Linux box now.....

Shaved Ham

...well, theres nothing worse than buying a ham with bristles sticking out of it is there?

Movember

Tis the MOnth to grow hair on ones top lip to support Mens Health issues....
Being a long time wearer of a mo I fully support any mans desire to foliate their upper oral real estate!
I've sponsored a couple of mates who are growing a mo to raise MOney.
So guys...keep MOtivated as it's a MOst worthy cause.

convenient?

Great things cordless phones! you can walk around the house unencumbered by cords or get away from noisy co-habitants...
..BUT they are never close by or in the charging cradle when they ring!
You wander 'round the house following the ring desperately trying to find the bloody handset before the caller hangs up or the answering machine takes over the call...(doesn't help when you are half deaf in one ear and direction finding by sound is difficult!)
...and sometimes when you find the handset it's sitting within a metre of the second cordless handset, (also not in its charging base)....
Yep, damn fine invention that one!
(why is it that you can always remember where you put your mobile phone but not the home phone?)

CPI

The workers are getting a 21 dollar pay rise! and the pundits are speculating it will push up inflation and the CPI etc....

Now I remember when I was a young lad, my pocket money was initially indexed to the price of a Matchbox Car, and when a little older to the price of an LP... :)

WOFTAM

Laughed out loud when I read an article today stating microsoft is spending something like 300 million dollars on advertising for their Vista operating system, which they claim is working well now and is not as bad as everyone says it is......
I SAY
Microsoft...if Vista is that good, don´t waste your money on advertising. Release the Home Basic version for free instead. The resulting publicity would get better coverage than advertising, the resulting increase in user base would be quicker. You would then still profit from upgrades to the higher spec versions of Vista and sales of Office etc.... (assuming of course that people are happy with it)

For me?, I certainly would not pay for it, but would download a copy for free to try it again...(I tried out the release candidate).
...I´m not convinced that it works flawlessly yet, and I won´t take microsoft´s word for it!

Being Green (er)...and being ripped off by the power co.

It's startling to note the drop in water usage in the first water bill we have received after installing our new front load washing machine.
Our average daily water usage has dropped by around 1/3 (35.9% down from the last bill and 32.8% from the same period last year)
We have also noted a slight drop in power consumption.

We are now policing the potholes shower times, encouraging them to use a 4 minute timer, and encouraging them to switch off lights when they leave a room, along with turning off more appliances at the wall and not letting the computers run overnight.

And then....
Another win we have had, which should cut our power bill a bit is with the energy co. Some time ago they changed the meters in our meter box to "time of day" meters (so called "smart metering"), that record power used according to the time of day and we are billed according to what time the power was used at either peak, shoulder or off peak rates...
Fair enough I thought, until I recently started to scrutinise the bills looking for ways to reduce our consumption / cost. The off peak hot water (controlled by them remotely) was being billed at "off peak" for the bulk of its use, but when the second "boost" element cut in during the day we were being billed at "shoulder" or "peak" rates..
I checked with our "sparky", who lives on the corner, to see if he could put a switch in the meter box to isolate the boost element circuit, at least that way I could stop the high power usage during the peak period, but alas I would have to ring the energy co. because the existing master switch was sealed....
Then I checked the energy co. website and it implied that when they change you to "smart metering" your off peak hot water should not be affected..hmmmmm....so, as I was previously only ever being charged off peak rates for boosted hot water during the day, I rang 'em...
Two weeks later they got back to me... "yes, you have been overcharged for your hot water"..turns out, not only were they charging me full rates for the "boost" usage during the day, the smart metering "off peak rate" they were charging for the hot water was dearer than what it should have been (should have remained on "off peak 1")...the end result is they had to go back to the date they changed the meters and reissue every bill at the correct rates...so now we have a big chunk of our latest bill credited back....cool!
So...check your bills if they have changed you to the new fangled metering!!!! it could pay off!
cecil

Straight ahead eh!

I have been amused by the road markings on this roundabout for some time now. It is near Nelson Bay....according to the road markings as you approach (from bottom of picture) you can turn left or go straight ahead from the left lane, turn right or go straight ahead from the right lane....the thing is, ... straight ahead puts you into the trees!, as in reality, you can only go left or right ....gotta laugh!
note: there is a similar marking on the inside lane approaching from the right of the picture.

International Rescue?

Was watching the news this morning and noticed these dudes in funny hats trying to stop the "pro Tibetan / anti Chinese Olympic Torch Relay" demonstrators.....

Thunderbirds are go.....! good to see they're out of retirement...

cecil

new Ubuntu coming soon

I am eagerly awaiting the latest Ubuntu release.8.04.."Hardy Herron". I was going to completely rebuild the Linux box at the release of the last version, but opted to upgrade instead...this time I am going to do it, I swear!..
...the system as it stands now dual boots with windows Vista, which I have absolutely no interest in, as it's such a bloated piece of CRAP!...those I know, who have now gone from Vista to Vista SP1 are saying it is really no better than before....best left alone is my theory..perhaps it will die the death it deserves...and besides, it's wasting a perfectly good Hard Drive that can be deployed elsewhere!

So , again I say, Ubuntu rocks!, well worth a play with, it comes as a complete distribution with software included for most everything you need for day to day computing, and a huge on line repository of alternate software at your fingertips.......best of all..its FREE.

Scaredy Cat

Our "Ginger" Persian Garfield, "the great Camellia Hunter", is scared of our new washing machine. Its funny really, as the old machine was way noisier, in fact it could be heard throughout the whole house and then some!....the new machine by comparison is whisper quiet...so why is he scared?
The different noises it does make may be of some concern to him, as he grew up from a kitten in the laundry with the old clunker and as such he may not be in his comfort zone now with the new intruder.....BUT the real scary bit seems to be that he can now see the clothes moving through the door, as the new unit is a front loader...he jumps a mile and cowers if he sees it move!....
One would assume he would get used to it fairly quickly but we've had it a few weeks now and he still doesn't like it!.....and doesn't like going near it when it's on....
Cecil

STOP PRESS! SANTA IN TRAIN WRECK !

News Just to hand, Santa was found today trapped in the Locomotive Cabin of his Christmas Express Train.

SEND HELP!

Suspect caught on camera earlier ?