Weiver

The Shit List

2009-05-12T12:31:00.003+10:00

Allow me to introduce this.

I'm collecting number plates of cars that drive dangerously on the road, or generally give Melbourne the title of "Worst Drivers in Australia"

While it would be obvious to stick myself on this list, I at least know when my behaviour on the road will effect other users. These people, do not.

I can't believe I have to do a general shout-out of some commonly dangerous behaviour on Melbourne's roads:

Drifting across lanes while turning a corner when there are other cars nearby is something that really pisses me off, and every person that does it, gets on the "shit list."

Tailgating is another dangerous one, that all too many do. Count to two, start at zero. Time starts at zero, not one. If you're a P-plater, add half a second. If you're tired, add a second. If it's wet, add a second. If the radio is on, add half a second. Yes, all add significantly to the time it takes to brake.

Also, driving in the wrong lane/driving too slow. Yes, I understand that you're "playing it safe" but that means you should be in the left lane so other road users can over take you. Doing fifty in the right lane on a two (or more) lane road where the limit is seventy is dangerous. That means you, users of Nepean Hwy (where it's eighty, but doing fifty past Southland seems to be the norm). If you must drive slow, then the left lane is the place to be.

Indicators! Oh my... It's a little stick that points out from the steering wheel, very close to your hands. Use it! With some advance too! Don't worry you'll use it too much, at least then others on the road will know you're planning on doing something. Use it well before turning.

School zones. I'm tough on this because I was still there recently. And if I'm driving in two lanes at forty in a sixty zone when it's school time, it's probably because I'm forcing you to slow down. This does not give you entitlement to flash your high beams, toot your horn and tailgate me. If you're doing all that, it means you're on the shit list. Tough.

These are the top few things that annoy me while driving.

I won't put L-platers on the shit list because they're still learning. I won't take people off the list. I know I break them myself sometimes (never speeding in School Zones or driving in the wrong lane too slow though) so you don't need to point out that no one is perfect, I already know. This list is for drivers who did something that put me or my passengers at risk without realising it.

So, welcome to the shit-list:
RZG266
S1LK (oh seriously...)
RPE967
SRR001
QEX968
FLZ055 (this person would get here twice if I could do it)
QBC112
DEBDOM (yes, I saw you, tailgating me there with your flashing headlights in that school zone, welcome to 40km/h).
WHH438
SSB890
UXU348
JAY72A
UUV587
WDP353 (120km/h is a dangerous speed to be closer than two meters to my rear bumper, just a pointer)
TLO509
TKG036
OEJ725
TBY514
M7015
OQD129
OXL057
SUW088

I'll be adding to this as time goes by of course.

Til next time.

Conversation Starter #9

2009-05-05T17:05:00.000+10:00

When I was a child I wanted to be...

Oh... Ah... I'm fairly certain billionaire was on that list. Come to think of it, it still is.

I don't think I went through that whole "firefighter/policeman/doctor" thing that most kids go through, mainly because I pick cooler jobs. Like engineering. Win!

Attack of the Fluorides

2009-04-27T19:03:00.002+10:00

Answering a couple of statements on Fluoride and the fact I swallow toothpaste (rather than spit). I'm always up for a bit of science, I'm like Dr. Karl of teenagers sometimes (especially when there's alcohol involved). As opposed of course to the Mythbusters, where there's less science and more "bang."

"If you swallow too much, too often it can kill you"

The commonly accepted concentration of toothpaste is a simple 0.32% w/w (look on the back of your toothpaste container for you own observational data). Assuming that toothpaste has the same density of water and our test is at 25 degrees Celsius, that would mean the total mass of Fluoride content in one serve (as Na2PO3F) is 3.2mg.

A lethal dose of Fluoride is 23mg/kg of body mass (Robert H. Dreisbach PhD, "Fluorine, Hydrogen Fluoride & Derivatives" in the Handbook of Poisoning 9th Edition 1977). As such, for a adult my size (70kg) I would require to ingest 1610mg of Fluorine for a lethal effect. Or, in terms of toothpaste 503.125g. Half a kilo of toothpaste? Yup, sure... That toothpaste... Lethal...

"It will eat away at your gastrointestinal tract and may not even show symptoms until it's too late."
"It can cause dental fluorosis, bone fractures, bone cancer, infertility, neurotoxicity and periodical bone loss."

"You can experience convulsions, diarrhoea, difficulty breathing, drooling, heart attack, salty or soapy taste in mouth, slow heart rate, shock, tremors, vomiting or sickness"

Yes, again, I'm sure it can - in large quantities. However, if was so dangerous if you so detail, then why does every state in Australia (minus Queensland from memory, and they're discussing changing that because of dental problems) add Fluoride to their water? Oh, lets just add chemicals to our water without performing the checks of dangers to our community. In Australia, water has been treated with Fluoride to a concentration of 1mg/L (http://health.vic.gov.au). The average recommended quantity of water to drink per day is 2L, containing 2mg of Fluoride. Slightly less than the concentration of toothpaste, yet having that pass through you every day almost the same as swallowing (as opposed to spitting, factoring that you swallow some accidentally when you brush anyway).

This proves that swallowing toothpaste is no more dangerous than drinking Melbourne's water, arguably the best in the world.

"It is used to remove Iron stains"

Never heard this before, let's assume so considering it is the element with the highest electonegativity. Then, following this simple method, the only iron in our body is in our haemoglobin, as state Fe2+ or Fe3+ ions (VCE Biology and VCE Chemistry). Two observations can be made from all points so far:

Iron stains are different to Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions in Haemoglobin; and hence the effect of Fluoride on Iron in our body is irrelevant.

Not a single "sickness" you defined in the list above is a direct result of iron deficiency. Iron deficiency is most commonly noticed by "fatigue, weakness, brittle nails, Plummer-Vinson syndrome or an impaired immune function" (Source: Bedside clock books).

"It's used in insecticide mostly against cockroaches."

I found two common insecticides (out of six) that reported to both be designed for cockroaches, and contained Fluoride. Of these, both reported that they do not affect mammals(Raymond-Delpech V, Matsuda, Sattelle BM, Rach JJ, Sattelle DB (2005), Ion channels: molecular targets of neuroactive insecticides). So the obvious point here is: Yes, fluoride is lethal - for cockroaches. I however, am human, a mammal, and am not in the slightest affected by its use in insecticides.

And that is just the Fluoride, completely rebutted. What's next?

Conversation Starter #8

2009-04-21T13:00:00.000+10:00

I should do less...

Errr... This one is tough. There's plenty of things I should do more of, but doing less is considerably harder. I should probably be less silly and be more serious with my work and such, but I doubt that that would change my grades much. Seriously stuck on this one. Open to suggestions here on what I should do less of...

Conversation Starter #7

2009-04-07T12:22:00.000+10:00

If I chose a different career...

I'd probably do what Luke does, sound and lighting. It is loads of fun, and there's always work available (according to Luke). But if I wanted to avoid stealing someone else's career? Hmmm... I would probably be a math or science teacher. No shit.

Omegle

2009-04-04T16:39:00.002+11:00

Simple concept.

Connect, chat with a stranger.

You can tell them your life story.

Or just shout "PENIS!" and leave them stunned.

Great for when you're bored, or when you have people over and are looking to annoy someone in another continent...

Conversation Starter #6

2009-03-24T13:00:00.000+11:00

As a child I...

Always enjoyed playing out in the street, riding my bike and such... Loads of fun...

Faster?

2009-03-18T10:18:00.001+11:00

Ok, little tid-bits of news for all you lucky readers (there is a few of you!).

First, I started and finished my longest ever assignment on Sunday. Thirty-two pages! A lot more writing than I am used to! A graph here and there. It was on frequency and spectra, so all the graphs were either from the oscilloscope, or created by me in MATLAB (i.e. There was writing behind the graphs too!). Solid effort, hoping for a nice mark on this one. Looks good too...

Next, my car accelerator had been sticking to the floor. Obviously, that could be a bit of a safety issue. It is in for service today. I did, however, find and fix the problem before I dropped it off. Turns out it was being caught on the car mat. I removed the car mat to solve the problem. It is having a service anyway, it was due.

I am playing around with the BIOS in my computer again (surprise, surprise) after reading an article that the stock Q6600 can be over clocked easily past 3.0 GHz while still using the stock cooling system. Moreover, thanks to ASUS' easy motherboard tweaking stuff, I can either just set the percentage and let the motherboard do the work or I can adjust it all manually. I am currently testing stability at 10%; 2.64 GHz. Sitting idle, it is at 29 degrees, and at full load 45 degrees; which is plenty of headroom to bump it up to 15% at the next test. In addition, I am now dual booting Windows 7. It is so pretty... I am sold already (Anyone who points out I was sold before I even bought my computer is both completely correct, and a smartass).

So clearly, with all these assignments, and acceleration problems, and over clocking, I have been running a bit fast recently, which explains this sickness I am getting. Time to slow down again...

Conversation Starter #5

2009-03-10T13:00:00.000+11:00

The last dream I had...

Ok, this might sound completely random, but the last dream I had involved Ricciuti playing soccer and accidently knocking out the umpire with the ball... Yeah... I know... Random...

Conversation Starter #4

2009-02-24T11:00:00.000+11:00

The craziest thing I've ever done...

I don't know if I should answer this one. Haha! There's so many! I could put down all the times I've been skinny dipping. Or I could tell you about some alcohol induced event. Or I could even put done something indescribable. But I'd have to say the craziest thing I've ever done is be involved in the Haileybury drama department, because everyone is completely nuts, and it's rubbed off on me. Yup, I can admit I'm nuts! So much fun is had there! Serious people, hang out with crazy people, it'll make you smile more!

Conversation Starter #3

2009-02-10T11:00:00.001+11:00

When I met our host...

It was way back in... wait... This doesn't make any sense! Ah, that's right, they're for a group gathering... Hmmm... Let's try another...

My favourite colour is...

Blue, did you even think I was going to say anything different? I have more blue clothes than the rest of my wardrobe combined. All the little things I own or buy, I always buy in blue. Why? Because blue is my favourite colour of course... And it's awesome...

Desktop

2009-02-06T16:00:00.000+11:00

Right, so I think I've got my desktop pretty well set up, including, it seems, the desktop itself...

I know I've blogged this before, but getting something running on a new computer is always worthwhile.

Conversation Starter #2

2009-02-04T11:00:00.000+11:00

Ok, I planned this to be a fortnightly thing, but at the moment I'm kinda bored at home, so I thought I might give you another to play with.

I didn't know then but I do now...

That the string on a party popper will not burn like a wick, and then "pop" when it reaches the base. I also found out that melted plastic all over your legs is painful. This is what happens when you give a boy a packet of matches...

Oh! I have another!

I didn't know then but I do now...

That the speed limit on the Princes Freeway to Geelong was 100km/h; not 110km/h. It's a Freeway, it's wide, and it's safe. Make it 120km/h! One hundred and forty-two dollars and one demerit point later...

Side note: How many do P-platers have anyway?

Help!

2009-02-03T13:44:00.002+11:00

Ideas?

Conversation Starter #1

2009-01-27T09:48:00.002+11:00

So for Christmas I got this little pack of "Party Conversation Starters" from Kikki-K. If you haven't seen them yet, or have no idea what they're about, I intend to use them, right here on my blog. They're little "finish the sentence" things. Quite simply, I intend them to be a way to learn a little bit more about me and a way to ensure I have regular blog posts this year (stop laughing). Feel free to also answer the question, either in the comments section, or on Facebook (like most of you already do).

Something I did well yesterday...

Was make an idiot of myself going "Rawr, rawr, rawr" everytime someone pointed out the shark on my arm, or I found an object I could make him look like he was eating. Rawr, rawr, rawr...

Chrome

2009-01-18T13:13:00.003+11:00

I've adopted a new look for my blog because I like to change things now and then. Considering I've been using Chrome as my main browser since it was released, this theme sort of looks funny on my screen, a browser within a browser...

And I also have some other themes saved for when I feel like mixing it up for special occasions. Check back now and then for ever continuing upgrades.

My Blue Aura

2009-01-16T18:30:00.008+11:00

Right, I've been thinking my car was looking a bit dull for a while now and really needed something to separate it from the rest of the cars on the roads. Santa obviously got my letter, and wrapped up some 12" Blue neon's for me. Cheers Santa!

Yup, righto, I hear you. Those people with under body neon's are the people who you want to ram off the road as they speed past you in their fully riced up lawnmower. I had no intention of putting them under my chassis though. To start with I'm too old to be lying on concrete, trying to find a way to secure plastic lights. So I opted to put them where only the best will see their glow – under the two front seats...

Before I even started I knew there would be three issues. First, you need power. Second, you need to be sure the power you've selected can light the neon's. Finally, the purpose of this is still to unsure driver and passenger safety, and lights inside the car while driving at night can be a distraction.

Thanks to a suggestion from Santa that I had already considered, the best place to mount them would be at the back of the front seats, so the spill is mainly behind the driver's vision, and not in front. And when I last cleaned the car (that makes a grand total of the number I've cleaned the inside of that car to one now) I found that the driver's seat belt sensor could be unplugged. And even better, it registered twelve volts on my "oh, not stolen" multimeter. This should be a piece of cake right?

Wrong. To start with, I connected the Molex connector with the wrong polarity. Words beginning with "f" spill from my mouth. I donno about you, but I assume when I see a red and a blue wire; the blue will be the ground of the two. And then, to my dismay, I realised the second of my possible problems had come true. Being only a seatbelt sensor, it hardly needed the three Watts (hee hee, I said "Watt") to see if I put my seatbelt on (which I always do, even when backing out of the drive... Habit...) and as such, only half lit the neon's.

Bitch whore...

So now I need to find twelve volts somewhere in my car. To the idiot who just said take it off the battery, I don't have any more than a meter of wire, and that's before I point out the safety issues...

Four hours later, I found a set of wires heading to the rear of the car. I hoped to take a little bit of power off the parking lights (so the neon's would come on when I turn the headlights on). It only took me fifteen minutes to find a set with power in it, and another fifteen to find a set with twelve volts...

Not quite sure what the set of wires I found does, but they are "always on," which leads me to believe they have something to do with the rear boot light (the switch for which is based in the boot, how simple). And considering my other set of lights hasn't blown up yet, this seemed a good a set as any to take power from.

Extend my wire to the centre console, attach a Molex connector, plug it in, and voila! Under seat neon's! Reassemble the car (I know I took mine apart doing this, but I found long lost coins totalling $10).

Now to tuck this all away neatly I removed the much useless ash tray to mount a switch built into a PCI backpane (can anyone guess by now where these neon's were designed for use?) and drilled a hole in the plastic of the console to mount it. Silly me made the hole a touch too big, so don't play with it if you are in the position to do so, or I'll make you fix it...

Driving at night is a breeze with these, and don't distract me at all. The hardest bit is remembering to turn them off, because they're not visible during the day and remain on even when the ignition is off.

Have some photos of the car, or better yet, come for a night time drive...

Aliens, lavalamps, carpet, telecommunications networks, M&M’s, and friends.

2008-12-31T11:59:00.001+11:00

Well, it's the end of this '2008' thing, which means that I can file another year away as successfully completed. A lot of stuff happened this year, some good, some bad.

Regardless, I have learnt heaps this year, done so many new things, seen, felt and experienced so much!

And as you learn, the years can only ever improve. Experience sharpens life.

Here's wishing to a most awesome and memorable 2009.

New Year's Resolution: Prove my point better, even if it means getting angry more (which only happened once in 2008, over a pizza order).

Have a fantastic evening everyone!

Riding Shotgun, Doggy Style...

2008-12-14T10:24:00.005+11:00

Power to the Project!

2008-11-30T19:00:00.000+11:00

After a couple of months of bitching, someone finally granted me a spare few months of spare time. In my first week of this spare time, I've been both bored, and inventive.

Sitting next to me is my now finished ATX power supply. With it, I am able to hook up my future projects to whatever voltage I desire without the need for masses of batteries, something that will no doubt save me many dollars in the future. Total cost of my money saving project: $3 plus a few hours of my spare time.

Parts required:

That shit ATX PSU from that old PC sitting around. Under 600W, else you might as well re-sell it.
Brain; if you have one already, then you won't need to find someone with one.
Tools; call your nearest one over.
Your preferred method of connecting wires (in my case, a terminal block).
Switch; SPST is the minimum; rated to anything. You'll almost always have one in your spare parts box.
LED's; any colour. Yes, don't lie; you do have some just sitting around.
Two resistors; people recommend 330Ω, I used 470Ω. Reality: any that will make your LED's turn on with 5V will do.
Heatshrink; compulsory. Yes, I know you wasted it on your last project because it's fun to use, this time you actually need it.
Some form of non-conductive glue. Hot glue is perfect, I used bathroom sealant. Make your own choice here.

How to:

After snipping off the assorted connectors take out your multimeter and measure the voltages from all the wires. Black is always ground, and if you don't know that, find someone to do the rest for you. After discovering that none of the wires seem to have any voltage, connect the green wire up to a black one. Try again. Oh... The green wire seems to be some sort of switch... Take note of that, as well as the voltages from all the wires. Also take note that same coloured wires are the same. Fancy that.
Measure the internal resistance between 5V and ground. It's a switched mode power supply, and needs some sort of load to work. Mine was 100Ω. If it doesn't have a load, it might need a power resistor later on. If it works without, give yourself a pat on the back. Else you might need to look into a load later in the project.
Leave it sit around for a couple of hours, disconnected from the mains. Anything with mains power these days is dangerous because of the quantity of components that hold power long after it is off. I've heard people recommend leaving it around for days. Your discretion here. If you feel like poking your hand around a capacitor with a couple thousand volts charged, be my guest; I take no blame for your stupidity; I did add "brain" to the parts required list.

Open it up, once you've read the above note. Serious. I like you alive.
Find some method for connecting a switch between the green wire and a ground one, use heatshrink to cover your shitty solder work and more importantly to prevent bare wire touching the case. Attach the switch to the outside of the PSU in your preferred fashion. I used the assorted nuts and washers that come with the switch, works a charm.

Track down the purple, grey and two black wires and separate. Be inventive to connect up the LED's and the resistors here (series for those that are "brilliant" enough to ask). Again, heatshrink is compulsory. The purple will be your "Mains On" light; the grey your "Power Good" light. Mount. I used bathroom sealant.
Close up that PSU. You should be done on the inside now. Test that plugging into active power lights the "Mains On" light and flicking that switch lights the "Power Good" light. Not working? See if I care, it worked for me...

Separate the wires you want for your future projects. Can't remember what was what? I told you to write it down. Blue = -12V; White = -5V; Orange = 3.3V; Red = 5V; Yellow = 12V for most systems. Got a small brown wire? I'm informed it needs to be connected up to either 5V or 12V to work. Someone get back to me on this if that was your case. I had no such wire. Snip off the wires you don't want.
Attach to your preferred method of connecting wires and neaten up remaining wires. I chose a terminal block because I can hook up anything with a screwdriver. I've seen people use banana plugs and mount them on the case of the PSU. It's already cramped in there in my opinion; the top of the PSU has plenty of room. If you do decide to protrude something from the case see my note before opening it up, and use heatshrink (it's like a condom for wires; protects you from shorts running around all over the place).

Finalise... It took twenty four hours for my terminal to set in place on top of the case due to using bathroom sealant. It has a nice smell though now. Test. The case is part of the circuit, and you'll blow stuff letting wires touch it. Like the RCD in your house. It's there for your safety...

I'm now looking for more stuff to build/invent. If you have an idea of something I can build, pass it on. I have spare time and a desire to get electrocuted at least once these holidays.

Happy Blog Day

2008-11-23T11:09:00.003+11:00

Whooo! Two years old now!

Let's go get shit-faced!

Any excuse will do!

Those stubborn hairs

2008-11-16T11:54:00.005+11:00

Right, I'm halfway through cleaning the inside of my car, which the astute of you know I haven't done in two years. The reason why I've stopped for the time being is two-fold.

First, I just blew a fuse. There I am, sucking away at the carpet and the suction dies. So this is me allowing time for the vacuum cleaner to cool down before trying again (or something, I do know that it won't work, and I'll just blow it again, but it's a mental thing).

Next, this vacuum cleaner sucks (not literally), and I'm waiting for approval from Mum for her to let me use the good one. The new one has all sorts of attachments, and is probably built to not blow fuses.

So while I wait for my reply I'm going to add this picture of everything I pulled out of my car:

Yup, I have hockey sticks, towels, pieces of seamboard with orders for Hungry Jacks written on them, four half-full water bottles, a blue rubber duck, assorted hairpins, six rolls of tape, an empty box of body pens, my jacket and a coathanger (this isn't even the stuff in the glovebox). Most of it has a story, feel free to ask!

Some of it will be placed back inside, most will go back in the car (like the tape).

Isn't this what Sundays are for?

Hawaii, Uni, and the races...

2008-10-29T13:00:00.000+11:00

What could have been three separate posts I've merged into one. Aren't I smart?

Let's start with Hawaii.

Recently went on a trip to Hawaii. I had a great time, lots and lots of fun. I'd love to go back one day. Yes, I went surfing; yes, I went shopping; yes, I did the beach thing; yes, I stayed in the penthouse suite of the hotel; yup, I climbed Diamond Head... It was a very busy week away, and I did a lot of things and come back with my own set of scars, mementos, presents and tattoos...

I experienced food like I've never witnessed before. Some things Australia is clearly better at. First is conservation of energy. Most of you will have already heard me rant about the continual and massive waste of electricity, water and petrol over there, so I won't repeat it. Next would be food, while their portions were very decent sizes (ie. Too much) and it tasted nice; by the end of the week I ended up wanting something healthy... Like a salad... Yes, America is the only thing in the world that will get me to eat my vegetables... (As a side note, can anyone say free refills?). Finally, I think Australian's would have to do far better with driving and road rules too. I was happy to be back on the left side of the road when I got home. None of this "the light is red but we can still turn here" shit. If the light is red, then you stop. I like our method...

But the place is just so different that it's something you have to go back to. We explored about 85% of the beaches of O'ahu, the third largest island of Hawaii, and I still want to go back for more. Every day was a different beach. Whether it was surfing at Waikiki, swimming at Kailua, skin diving at Sunset Beach, or face planting while body surfing further along Kailua Beach (It was ranked #1 US Beach in 1998). The beaches were a whole different experience too. I think the main things that made them so amazing were the views you enjoyed while swimming, and the fact the weather was always perfect.

Yup, I'm browner too for those that did notice.

The last week of uni was recently, and it's now exam time. I had one yesterday, one tomorrow, and another Friday. Then my last one is next week. I could do very well on these exams, if I was willing to put in the effort. Mostly I know that I've been doing well, and am not putting in as much effort as I probably should. The weather is too nice to be studying. I think my best result will be from Engineering Design, even though I attended a grand total of three lectures, because I find the subject quite cruisey. Some might struggle with this one, and I can see why if it's your first time around logic gates, but logic happens to be what I'm good at. Though last semester the subject I felt I was going to do the best in was the one I did the worst, so I'm not going to hold my breath for fantastic results.

Finally, the Spring Cup Carnival. I've been working at a bunch of the races so far (Geelong Cup, Cox Plate) and will be working at quite a few more I hope (Melbourne Cup, Oaks Day) so make some money. I always enjoy watching people progress from sober to blind drunk over a period of time, and there's no better time to do that than when working at the Spring Carnival. Already had people offer me $20 for my nametag (free money, I have several nametags) and I made something like $14 worth of tips, all in 10c pieces at the Cox Plate. Straight to my car for them, they aren't staying in my pocket. Working Melbourne Cup should be good, because it seems they've finally figured out that I'd prefer to be bartending than holding a platter of food in my arms all day (Marble platters are heavy, and you get dead arms by the end of the day). Instead, I come home with hands that get pretty badly cut up from bottle tops and cans. Sigh... Long live the invention of the teaspoon and the bottle opener (though some fucker nicked mine the other day).

Overall, I come home with more money than most people went to the races with, so I'm one of the few that get away on a profit. If you're going to bet, chances are you'll lose. That's why TAB and bookies exist, they actually make money. The math says you will lose more than you'll win. Same goes for casinos. Don't bother unless you're really good (or can card count).

Until after exams,

James!

Checkmarks

2008-09-22T18:12:00.001+10:00

So I have this little *cough cough* to-do list at the moment that I'm frantically trying to do before I leave. So I thought I might get a bit of help from you guys and gals...

Where am I leaving? Haven't I told you? I know some of you only found out last week, even though I had been making a couple of massive hints I was going somewhere. Some of you have known for quite a while, a couple of months...

Either way; I'm going to Hawaii...!

Yes, I'll be soaking up the sun while the weather here fulfils its usual Melbournistic style of 18°C and raining, just like it's doing right now as I look out the window. I hope it stays that way while I'm gone...

Of course, this means taking a week off uni... Most of you have holidays at this point, when my "holiday" was a couple of weeks ago (yeah... mid-semester break is nothing really, you end up at uni everyday anyway...). As a result I've been flat out busy making sure I don't fall behind in my classes. At uni they have two teaching speeds, unbearably fast and unbearably slow. It would not be difficult to disappear for a week and come back to discover you missed all the chapters of stuff that's on the exam, and ended up in a lecture on Quantum Computing, which without the week of stuff you missed, is a long way away from understandable. On the other end of the scale, I'm half expecting to come back and find that some of my lecturers are still talking about the same thing they were talking about three weeks ago, hoping that the portion of the class that hasn't attended for the past three week will attend to listen. For those lecturers, the reason why they are not there is because they got bored of you tapping the microphone, apologising, or just repeating the same things, over and over...

Hey, it can't be worse than being taught to add to quantities though, can it? (What's 1000 grams plus 250 grams? Seriously...).

I've picked out my "favourites" for this semester now. Engineering Design 1; which is where I hold the record for latest attendance to a lecture (I walked in, to hear him tell us the lecture is over, so I was there about 20 seconds). It's also the class where I get to play with logic circuits and build stuff. Last weekend I thought I'd be clever and design the "perfect" system for our project we're working on, but then got told I couldn't build it because it's a later assessment, and they'd have nothing to mark me on now... (*cough* I wouldn't mind some harder work?).

And my other favourite is just the one I've dubbed "C++" (as opposed to "MATLAB" for those that care). I like the change in language...

And if you've made it this far, you've witnessed me checking off "Blog" on my to-do list...

I said you could help me with this list, and you still can:

You all know how you can plug your new "state of the art, high definition" TV into your home network and stream movies from your laptop or what not? Well; the first person to find out the maximum network speed of high definition televisions or receivers gets a metaphorical silver foil wrapped choc chip cookie... Not a single employee at any appliance store has any clue... The answer is either "Fast Ethernet" or "Gigabit Ethernet" and it's starting to shit me...

Check...

Tid-bits

2008-09-03T21:00:00.002+10:00

Right, I have three random, or not so random, things to put here:

First;

An Appeals court has ordered a retrial for a group of artists who hacked into a national television weather broadcast to show a fake nuclear explosion in the Czech mountains.
Members of the Prage-based Ztohoven art group admitted tempering with equipment at the public broadcaster Czech Television so viewers watching a live panoramic shot of the Krkonose, or Giant Mountains, in June last year saw a flash of bright light and a fiery mushroom cloud.
Seven artists were acquitted of spreading false information in March, but the state prosecutor appealed the verdict.

That really gets nothing but a massive awesome from me. Could you imagine replacing the Channel Seven's picture of the sun for a mushroom cloud on the forecast map? Oh yeah, I think I've found a goal in life...

Second, my horoscope for the day, courtesy of the mX;

Despite arguing your case well, someone else is determined to have the last word.
Once you have spoken, allow others to absorb the information over a period of time.
Battles must be chosen carefully tomorrow.

Heh... I purposely withhold any comment on that...

Finally; I did this all while chroming. Apparently people like it...