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Archive for November, 2007
I finally got around to uploading the rest of my pics from my October trip up north. This set is from our trip to the Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs Harbour. They have no porpoises anymore though. I really like this one of the peacock. This guy was seriously showing off for a solid ten minutes so I got plenty of time to get a couple of great shots. There are heaps of the dolphins and seals doing tricks - go check it out! One of the top news headlines caught my eye this morning. A ship called “MS Explorer” has crashed into an iceberg off Antarctica. Passengers were observed scampering about the sinking ship, trying all manner of key combinations, but weren’t able to bring up the Task Manager and relaunch the Explorer. I just have to ask what the owners were thinking naming a ship after something notorious for crashing over and over again? Argh! The irony is killing me! As I watch John Howard concede defeat but not without inserting a good swag of sentimentality, I realise that we’re headed for a change of government in Australia. I’ve been watching ABC’s coverage on and off tonight and one broad attitude seems to be prevailing as the chief cause of the swing toward Labor, and that’s the “it’s time” factor. For a while towards the end of the election campaign, I was starting to worry that Aussies would get the last minute jitters and give in to the Coalition’s “strong economy” fear campaign. But they didn’t, and for that I’m thankful. I don’t have a huge problem with the Howard government, but one obvious factor stands out as indicative of an underlying agenda with mildly malicious undertones. It reared it’s head like a dormant serpent in 2006 after the 2004 election saw the Howard government win the balance of power in the senate. It’s as if Work Choices had always been lurking there in the back of Howard’s mind, just waiting for an opportunity to force industrial relations reform completely unopposed. Is it just me, or does that just seem a bit tyrannical? As the full “potential” of Work Choices became apparent, it seemed obvious it was designed to take away worker’s rights rather than achieve anything else. I’d like to think the swinging Aussies felt this too, and didn’t like it. I’m sure there are other factors, but I’m willing to call this election lost on the basis of Work Choices alone. That is to say that if it hadn’t been introduced, the Coalition would have retained government. That aside, I personally feel the current government has been in power for too long, and that Labor has finally got its act together, found a decent leader and deserves the victory. I just finished reading Phil Lenssen’s fascinating interview with Bonnie Brown, the masseur that worked for Google and has now written a book about her experience. The interview touches on some interesting topics, such as what Googlers think of small talk, the split between pre-IPO and post-IPO employees, and Brown’s own SWS (Sudden Wealth Syndrome) and how she dealt with it. After reading the interview, I can’t help but think “DO WANT” about her book. I had no idea there was such an anti-mouse following out there. But it makes sense really. I blame excessive and probably improper use of the mouse for screwing my whole right side, especially my shoulder and back. I had a theory that it was just due to overall right-hand dominance but I’m not sure that’s the cause. Lately, as soon as I assume the “mouse position” it only takes about 5 minutes for things to get uncomfortable. I’m starting to realise like some others out there, that the mouse is far from being the most ergonomically designed peripheral out there. I recently switched to a Laser Mouse 6000 but I think it’s actually less ergonomic than my old IntelliMouse which was the best mouse I’ve ever used, but had the unfortunate time induced flaw of spontaneously double clicking when you just single click. I don’t like the Laser Mouse as much because they shrunk the back and forward buttons and moved them away from where my thumb actually is. I used to be able to instantly click the back button and it was greatl mapped to undo in some apps, and to reload in FPS games. But those extra milliseconds of “seek time” have made the smaller back button useless now. OK, so I’m not a hardcore gamer or anything, but it feels easier to reach for the backspace key in Firefox rather than use the puny mouse buttons for “Back”. A while back, to try and ease my mouse woes, I swapped mouse hands and tried to use the keyboard as much as possible. It was OK for a while, but my productivity is not great left-handed, and I would instinctively switch back to the right hand without even realising it. But there’s another problem with the right handed mouse. I’ve always thought the standard keyboard is a bit ridiculous for a right-mouse-handed person. I look at it and just think “does not compute.” I know the numpad is on the right because it speeds up numerical data entry if you’re right handed. I much prefer to type numbers on the numpad, especially things like IP addresses. But you want the main alphabet section directly in front of you, but if you do, the numpad and arrows etc. that eat up all your right hand space where the mouse should go. A solution would be a keyboard with a numpad on the left or a detachable numpad that you could put back on the right for extended number crunching. But alas, the problem of the unergonomic mouse remains. There are some new ones out there, even some sideways ones which might be better. But I don’t really want to shell out $100 or more for a mouse that might be just as crap or worse than my current one. Maybe I should just use the Wiimote, although accuracy could be a problem. (Link note: Cool, but wouldn’t connecting via Bluetooth be simpler?)
Lenses are fun! Check out the full photo set.
My free Wii Remote Jackets arrived the other day. I played Zelda for a while last night with it on. I wasn’t wearing the Jacket, myself. I had attached it to my Wii Remote. I think I like it. It makes the controller more grippy and there’s a cool built in connector dust plug that I kind of like. And if you look closely, you’ll see the power button is actually underneath a layer of rubber. It’s still easy enough to press though. I really like the flared bit up near the D-Pad. It makes the controller more comfortable to hold sideways, which I do a lot with Super Paper Mario. If you have a Wii, you should ring up and order some Jackets. They give you one for each Wii Remote you have. Nintendo have probably figured that giving these out will be cheaper than getting sued by people with smashed TVs and body parts. Over the past couple of years, I’ve discovered a few really awesome Aussie bands/artists. Since November is Aus Music Month over at Triple J, here’s a list of my top 5 Aussie artists at the moment. 5. Sneaky Sound System (MySpace page) 4. Gotye (MySpace page) 3. The Presets (MySpace page) 2. Josh Pyke (MySpace page) 1. Midnight Juggernauts (MySpace page) |
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