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Journal

The Pond

Well, we started doing a bit around the pond area at the front over the couple of weekends. Bern weeded the whole area and started the process of getting it to look good. Then Jase and I managed to manhandle a bunch of Huge (some 100Kg+) rocks into place for the waterfall. After a quick test we found the waterfall was fairly good, but not perfect, but by that time Connor was getting grumpy so Jase went home.

I decided to go out last night after work and see if I could improve things but one of the rock was faw too heavy and in the process of trying to move it, one of the other rocks fell off and rolled into the pond, smashing the pump in the process. Hopefully I can fix it with some super glue, or I might need to go and buy myself one of those hot glue guns.

In the meantime I’ll need to organise some help again I think to switch two of the rocks around.

Categories
Reviews

Aliens

No, This is not a typo, this is a sequel to Alien. The second film is much better than the first, probably due to the direction of James Cameron, many of whose movies I love.
I think I saw this one too, many years ago, but I only remember bits of it. It is possible that I got the edited shorts from it with the aid of a friend of mine who now calls himself Meridian.
All that aside you have the same lead character, the same alien (lots of them) and the same planet, but also a bunch of new characters (good & bad). I quite enjoyed this, but the atmosphere can really be too much. At one stage in the movie all the light go out (coz the power got cut of course) but at the same time, in the office beside me there was a whir, a click and movement beside me. By the time I climbed back down off the ligh fitting, i realised it was mearly the Red Hat install beside me asking for the second CD, but it took me several minutes to calm back down before I could watch the movie again.

Categories
Reviews

Alien

I havent seen this movie since I was about 14 or so, and it scared me death back then. Then there was the Alens TC for Doom during the good old days. Now the movies are out on DVD and you can get a five pack (the four movies plus a DVD of extras) which I have been leant by my boss, Steve.
This is still a scary movie, and the effects are still fairly good, even today. I thouroughly enjoyed watching it again, and I was surprised how little I remembered, and how frightened you can be in a well lit loungeroom.

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Reviews

Antitrust

This was an excellent little techo-geeky thriller. Unfortuneatly I saw the last 20 minutes or so before I saw the start, but I have to say I still enjoyed it again, and having the chance to watch Bern, Mon & Jase was good too.
The plot was good, and I liked the acting (thought I rrarely dislike acting, I suspend disbelief too well). The whole Microsoft/Nurv” thing was a bit close, but they made light of it early in the movie which was kinda fun.
There were a few nice twists, an Mon, in particular, was right on the edge of her seat for the last half.

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Links

Course on the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

Barnes and Noble University (online) is running a traning course on the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit here.

Looks rather interesting.

Categories
Reviews

Lord of the Rings

Warning. There is some information about the movie here, though nothing I’d call a spoiler (it is only the first of 3 movies and the book has been out for 45 years..)
I went to the trouble of booking a ticket the night before to see the 9:45 am session of Lord of the Rings, but I needn’t have bothered, because it turned out there were only about 40 people who were interested enough to venture out on a cold Melbourne Boxing day morning to see the first session.
Overall the movie was excellent. I was completely sucked in to the world of Middle Earth (though that is not too hard for me, I’ve read the books about 7 times). There were some things I would have done differently, but none of them detracted from the spectacle of the movie as a whole.
Merry and, in particular, Pippin seem to have been cast as comedic relief, which is a bit sad, and may make things a little difficult when the times comes for them to take on the serious roles later on.
I was dissapointed to see that the whole Fatty Bolger/Old Forest/Old man Willow/Tom Bombadil/Barrow Wights bit had been cut out, but I can understand it from the point of it having little to do with the story as a whole, and taking up a big slab of time.
The glow (when Orcs are around) of the elvish sword “”Sting”” that Frodo bears looks like a last minute job, more like what I would have expected from the guys that did Troops.
Overall, still a 5/5 I can’t wait for parts two and three.

Categories
Journal

Toilet HOWTO

I got sick of having to explain where the toilets are at work, so I decided I’d write a Toilet HOWTO to put up on the door at work. I thought I’d GPL it in case someone else wants to use it…

Toilet HOWTO
1. Grab the wooden wedge from the lunchroom window ledge beside you
2. Wedge open this door so you can get back in
3. Go up 2 flights of stairs and through the door and to the right
4. Now you have to make a decision
5F. Ladies, follow the right wall past the notice boards and you are there
5M. Men, the toilets are almost immediately on your left

This HOWTO is free software:: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation:: either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This HOWTO is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY:: without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this HOWTO, but it would not fit on the door. If you really want one, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

Categories
Reviews

20GB USB HDD

We were given a test unit of a USB HDD which is a USB connected 20Gb Hard Disk in a tiny convenient case. In a package not much bigger than a Zip disk we have nearly 10x the capacity with fantastic ease of use. Once you install the software, the unit simply plugs into the USB port and mounts itself as the next available drive letter (E:) on my system. The transfer speeds are not blistering @ 879 kbytes/sec but that still means you can transfer a CD’s worth of info in less than 13 minutes. If you could build a USB 2 version, the times would drop dramatically, and it would be a truly superb unit. Excellent for those who want to carry large files around from place to place.We also tried the Unit on an iMac, but even though it recognized that there was a disk connected, there we no drivers to enable it to read from the device. A simple USB Disk driver is probably all that is needed, but we were unable to find one.We can’t mention the distributor looking to bring this into the country, but if you are interested, feel free to drop me an email, and I’ll pass that information along. RRP looks like being about AUS$550 for 20GB, maybe less for smaller drives and possibly a no-disk option for those who already have a 2.5inch Hard Disk lying around.

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Journal

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Last night we went to see what could best be described as an interactive musical called The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The original story was written by Charles Dickens, who had the ill manners to die before completeing the story and telling us whodunnit”, which is where the interactive part comes in. Towards the end the audience are asked to vote on who the murderer is and which two characters should fall in love (and do the penultimate duet). It was quite an enjoyable evening. I love live theatre.

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Reviews

Thief the Dark Project & Thief II the Metal Age

These two titles by Edios have produced a new realm of gaming, the First Person Sneaker, where you are rewarded more for cunning and hiding in the shaows than for a full frontal attack (which will usually get you killed). The ability to creep through the shadows and whack someone over the head with a blackjack, or hide in the shadows atop a wall and plug a guard in the back with a well placed arrow really appeal to me. Combine this with lock picking, rope arrow to shoot into a rafter and climb away from your enemies, a little magic and a twisting, turning plot and this is a series of games you do not want to miss. There is also an intersting Fan site at Thief Underground with lots of news and extra levels.