Jay Leno has similar theory

Jay Leno said the other night on his show that apparently pole dancers spin anti clockwise in the southern hemisphere (OZ), compared to clockwise in the US.......see, I'm not crazy!

note... see prev post "stuff" november 2005

AHOY! Not long now....

Just under a week to go now until we embark on our 10th Wedding Anniversary Cruise..
We will be cruising the South Pacific for 11 days . . . and we just can't wait!!!. The "potholes" are going to stay at Grandma's while we renew our vows and enjoy a "Second Honeymoon" aboard the Pacific Sun...take in the tropical sun...visit some of the islands in Vanuatu...drink heaps of grog...spoil ourselves stupid really!!! Sure we'll miss the kids (?) but they are really looking forward to holidaying with Grandma...Heath, infact thought that he was going there this last weekend, and was a little upset to find out he had to wait another week...Mike started packing things to take up there weeks ago!!!...and James has been fairly quiet about the whole deal (I think he will be the most emotional about us going initially)...
The days are going faster the closer it gets...can't wait, can't wait, can't wait........

webcam off now

I have turned off the webcam software for now....
It seemed fairly stable, but didn't cope 100 % with all the other stuff happening on this PC...
Some other software when run, hampered its ability to reliably upload images....
Left to its own devices on a quieter, perhaps dedicated PC it would possibly work without hiccup.
If I find another program to try, I will set it up again "on trial".
The "eyetoy" camera itself ...as stated in a previous remark , seems to suffer from auto exposure problems, but served its purpose for testing ...a better cam will have to be sourced if I put one online permanently.

cec.

I'd like to buy a vowel please...

e-mail, e-business, e-commerce, imac, ipod, itunes....etc... so forth, need iquote more?
The point is, someone comes up with an IT buzzword abreviation starting with a vowel and every man and his dotcom follows the leader...so whats next, imean the irish probably have dibs on "o" (o'reilly,o'rourke,o'donahugh......) and nobody would be silly e-nough to steal that one!... "a" is sort of taken with our e-mail addresses in @. But we could probably use it at a-pinch... so that leaves "u" which I dare say, other than U-Haul, is probably out there somewhere but not as well used.... unix, uucp, u-tarzan?....I guess the unix camp have rights to it...


So that means there are no more vowels . . .hmmm

More webcam experimentation

experimenting with the "eyetoy" cam....uploading images to my webspace at exetel.
http://home.exetel.com.au/pitts/webcam.html ...will probably have it up as much as possible over the next couple of days to test software to see if i like it...if it works out i might get a weather proof cam and mount it outside ($ permitting) permanently....cecil

YEEE HAW

Must have been a cowboy in a past life!
After months of pain i finally asked the doc to look at my sore heel.
He sent me to radiology for an Xray....see pic.
You've got a heel spur!....great all i need now is the Horse!

Eye Toy as a webcam

After pondering the potholes "eye toy" for their PS2, I got to thinking ... this is just a USB webcam isn't it?.... a quick google and by golly I was right .... a few sites came up detailing how to use it on your PC as a webcam. (Its not quite plug and play as it is). Followed the "destructions" and it works like a beaut! see pic ... audio and all..even with msn etc...

The office is always open.....or it should be!

I have been using "open office" lately and am quite happy with it as a whole. (as opposed Bills office software which is a hole...and i was dreading paying for a more recent version than what i had)
I feel much better using "software written for the masses" so to speak than contributing to Mr Gates retirement fund, and also not being so exposed to anti Bill worms etc.

speaking of "open". . . can anone tell me why Mandrake Linux changed their name to Mandriva?...maybe the magician complained?

I'd like to get a Linux box off the ground to stuff around with,,,,I've got a nearly historic Smelleron 400 that I'm assuming has enough grunt to run Linux provided I get a version that supports its hardware. I can boot it to "mandrake move" which is a single cd-rom portable version so I'm hopefull "Mandriva" will work. I tried "debian" but it didn't take too kindly to the Lan card I had installed so I've canned that distribution for now!

Wouldn't it be nice if I could ditch all the window boxes in the house, and teach the kids n wife to use Linux instead!...I don't see many kids games on the shelves ported to linux yet so it probably won't happen lol! (i don't see "world of warcraft" for linux yet which is quite perplexing considering its global popularity!)...

Lets hope that the "open" movement continues, and isn't absorbed by the big players protecting their own bottom line.....

Wailing!

well Whaling anyway.... what gives the Japs the right to whinge about environmental protesters having a bit of fun disrupting their so called "research". Bring it on I say!!!! In fact, lets all chip in and buy a few ex navy destroyers and frigates etc. (maybe Johnny would sell us his dud Collins class subs cheap) and become Environmental Pirates. We'd probably have to find a deserted pacific island for our base, as 'Lil Johnny would probably have some political objection to basing a pirate fleet here in Oz. Capture the "researchers", investigate their vessels, send 'em home and then strip and scuttle their vessels....perhaps sink them somewhere where we need a new artificial reef in a marine sanctuary would be fitting.
Another "milder" campaign could be to get everyone to stop Japanese tourists in the street and ask them about the results and benifits they receive from their "Whaling Research". Sure . . . it might dent tourism a little, but do we really want money from a country too gutless to admit to what they are really doing? . . . I sure don't, so a little pressure on their visiting populous may (or may not) induce some pressure from the more morally conscious Japanese, to campaign their own government against whaling.

welcome twenty'o'six

Another year down at the Pitts'
Christmas is over, lets sound a cheer. We've just welcomed in, another new year.
The garbage bin's full, of wrapping and food. But the holiday's not over, for most of the brood.
Another month of play, pity the weather's not cool. Before they go back, to boring 'ol school.
Another year of budgeting, for me and the wife. To live life the fullest, get the most out of life.
This year we'll go cruising, to the isles in the Pacific. To relax and unwind, and do nothing specific.
The "potholes" will grow, here in our comfort zone. and before we will know it, they'll be "Pitts" on their own.
For the years seem too short, they slip by way too fast. And the time with our kids, seemingly won't last.
so here's to twenty o six, three cheers and hooray. lets enjoy it, have fun, and cherish each day.

Gravity !

I was recently reminded of my own theory of gravity, which basically revolves around the premise that the earths gravitational pull apparently varies at different points on the earths surface.
You see, I believe that the majority of houses have their kitchens built right over that point on a block of land that has the most gravitational pull. Proven, no less, through many years of observation in the numerous dwellings in which i have resided over the years, by the overwhelmingly high number of objects that are sucked out of ones hands into the floor and smashed in the kitchen, as opposed other rooms in ones house!!!...I wonder if there is a business opportunity in surveying blocks of land for gravitational pull, before people build, to advise on where not to put the kitchen? :-)

Damn you Chevy Chase!

Christmas decorating has never been the same since Mr Chase popularised the festooning of one's house with heaps of strings of lights...and once you succumb to your "sprouts" desire to similarly adorn ones own abode you can never go back :-| .
There must be a kickback to the retailers of these lights from the energy companies, y'know ..The more lights you sell, we'll drop your power bill by a few percent this quarter coz we'll make it up with the increased power sales to the punters lighting up their houses!!!
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the fact my "potholes" (small, prepubescent Pitts) get such a kick out of it :-), but frankly I'm tiring of it. Each year has to be bigger and better (apparently)...It seems last year I was confronted by yet another string of lights, glowing reindeer, fibre optic tree every week in the lead up to Christmas. (This year I'm up for more extension cords and power boards by the way). AND this year there are murmurs for extra cut outs for the outside display and I'm considering a DIY to save on $ if pushed!...a bit of creative recycling of left over renovation material ;-)
I sit here trying to relax after a weekend of unknoting strings of lights, testing and replacing dead globes, climbing ladders, testing and replacing more dead globes, fitting cutouts, replacing more dead globes, all whilst trying to complete some of the internal house renovation prior to Saint Nick's arrival,,,and did I mention fixing more dud globes,,,
Roll on New Year! When the reverse procedure has to happen. NOT!...it wouldn't be the first year when the lights have stayed up until the Queens Birthday long weegend! Purely because I don't want to wear out the ladder prematurely, ladders aren't cheap y'know! ;-)
Merry Humbugs to you all!!

Dark side of the moon

Ever pondered the craters in your newly opened jar of Vegemite?......
Perhaps this is what the dark side of the moon looks like....

Thruxton 900

Here is my new mid life crisis transport....

Triumph call it one of their "Modern Classics"

cats vs quick set cement

one of my daily chores is to clean out the cat litter trays....(yes yuck!),,,we have two cats one male one female...I use clumping cat litter and have two trays as "himself" is quite fussy and won't use the tray if "herself" has used it, or he decides his is just too "used" to stand in!...he then chooses to go wherever he feels like.
It's days like these I wonder if I should substitute quick set cement for cat litter in his tray ...kinda like the mafia cement boot idea...
anyone tried it?

beep beep beep

trying to find out what three long beeps on a AMI bios based motherboard means.......

seems to be a lot of other codes i can find but not this one?

@#$%^&*!!!

I'M EXCITED ! (apologies to big Kev)

Ordered my new transport yesterday...a Triumph Thruxton 900, and I can't wait for it to arrive!
I've been a long time Triumph enthusiast, but alas had to sell my last bike (a Kawasaki KLR) when I got married and haven't had the opportunity (read "permission") to get my Triumph until now. Mind you thats not such a bad thing as I would have bought a Bonneville or T100 or Thunderbird etc. until I saw the Thruxton. I must have visited the showroom half a dozen times looking but was finally tempted to a test ride after (a.) Michelle had come around and said yes and (b.) the dealer moved and had the entire Triumph test fleet available to celebrate the opening of his new shop!...so out of retirement came the 'ol leather jacket and brain bucket etc. and off I went.
Nerves got the better of me when I sat on the beast :-| as I was a little unsure of how i would cope with the forward leaning "racing" position after not having riden for ten years, so I elected to ride the T100 first to reassure myself I hadn't forgotten how to ride. :-)
"That was quick" said Kevin, the salesman when I returned to the shop. "Very nice bike" I said , "now I'm ready for the Thruxton". (The T100 was nice to ride but I was still anticipating the racier Thruxton and now I'd proved to myself that I "still had it" I was ready!)
Now,... I was fine until the audience arrived after Kevin cranked over the Thruxton...I mean not only does it look like a slick bike, with the sport exhaust pipes that were fitted to the demo, it sounded bloody unreal!!!
Here we go i thought, I'll probably muff the take off and look a real goose in front of these dudes looking on.....but a deep breath and a cautious left hand I departed the driveway fairly smoothly and thought I gave my departure enough throttle to impress the onlookers with the throaty pipes!...and yes Kevin was right..."just be carefull" he said " you will probably find yourself speeding because you will get carried away listening to the sound from the pipes!"...and right he was!...so impressed was I and so instantly hooked I rode it straight home to get Michelle's reaction. She was understandably nervous, (for reasons I wont go into here, getting her to agree to another bike was a real struggle), but she said "well.... if you really like it, get it".
So I ordered one as soon as I got back to the shop!, "....racing yellow",fly screen and of course sports pipes! ;-)

theory of relativity?

My own theory of relativity relates to the speed at which motorists drive, depending on how far north or south of their home they are...
In my travels for my previous job i have clocked millions of km's around the northern half of NSW Australia, during which time i had noticed a definite trend relating to the speed at which my fellow motorists from interstate travelled on the highways.
As a rule the Queenslanders went faster and the Victorians went slower.

After some time i figured this must be due to the difference in speed that they are used to travelling through space, where they normally live.
ie. a Queenslander living closer to the equator is moving at a faster rate through space as the earth spins than say a Victorian who is closer to the South Pole. The result is that as the Queenslander moves south he subconsciously feels the need to drive faster so that he feels the same relative velocity through space, and vica versa for the Victorian who feels he has to slow down as the effect of the earth moving relatively faster through space makes him subconsciously feel he is going too fast.

STUFF

ever wondered if the room spins the opposite way in the other hemisphere when you're drunk?...

y'know.... like they say the water goes down the plughole a different way depending whether you are north or south of the equator.....and how they reckon your pictures on the wall tilt a different way under the same theory...

hmmmm

Redundant

got a redundancy package the other day after 25 yrs working in IT.
funny word redundancy..
...a lot of IT companies will sell you a system using "raid" storage.
...and usually by the time its delivered to you...you guessed it... its been made redundant by newer technology...
hmmmm