Earlier this morning I was listening to a song called Afternoons and Coffeespoons by Crash Test Dummies. It’s a song about getting old and the advancement of time. The chorus goes like this:
Afternoons will be measured out
Measured out, measured with
Coffeespoons and T.S. Eliot
This got me thinking about how we mark the passage of time and particularly how this changes as we get older.
It is probably about the time children start school that they first become aware of time passing by. They of course don’t reflect on it the same way adults do but they do get interested in it. For young children the passing of time is in fact something to be excited about, something to look forward to. Princess number 2 is in grade 1. She has also just lost her second tooth. Monumentous occasions such as these are the marker stones in her young life. Princess number 1 is five years older. She therefore has five and a half years of school as a reference point against which to measure time. Thinking about the future, she has her eye on how long it is before she goes onto point shoes in ballet. Her year 7 leadership camp next year is a long way off and high school is something that will happen a long time in the future.
I don’t remember the exact point when the passing of time became an unwelcome side effect of a busy life. I no longer find myself thinking “I wish this next 6 months would be over” as I did at 16 with a driver’s license just around the corner. Time has become too precious for that sort of thinking. These days I am more likely to be worried about time passing by. There are bills and school fees to pay. There are grown up questions like do I have enough superannuation and is the house adequately insured.
It is being a parent that makes all of this worthwhile of course. This takes the focus off thinking about oneself. Time is measured in children’s birthday parties, the losing of teeth and school report cards. Soon it will be first dates, part time jobs and decisions about careers.
Perhaps one day I will measure the afternoons in coffeespoons. Not yet though, there is too much to do.
If you are interested here is the song Afternoons and Coffeespoons that got me thinking.
Small Mercies are a band from Brisbane getting some attention lately. Their song “Innocent” has been featured on TV ads for Prison Break. Here is a video from their Myspace page. I hope you enjoy it.
A 4-port USB hub with an explosive secret. A red button which can unleash mass destruction on a purely imaginative scale is unlocked only if you know the secret of the three-stage failsafe.
Now that it’s work in providing us with a world class health system and a water supply of international standard is complete, our Government has decided that we should be given the benefit of an improved electricity supply arrangement, so that our costs do not remain steady.
At the present time, the Government owns the generation, distribution and retail system through Energex in South-East Queensland and Ergon in the rest of the State. In an effort to reduce our costs, as from 1st July, 2007, they will allow up to 20 different companies to buy electricity from the Government and sell it to the consumer. So far, it would appear that 12 license holders will be “active” in the market, mainly in South-East Queensland.
To date, the advantages of 12 retailers doing the job now performed by 1 (or 2 if Ergon is included) have been amply demonstrated by the announcement that the price of electricity to the domestic consumer will increase by 10% from 1st July, 2007. To my small mind, it seems reasonable to assume that running 12 businesses, each with the same basic overheads, would be substantially more expensive than running 1 (or 2) businesses and if these new entrants to the market can run at a profit, surely the Government has been overcharging us for electricity in the past.
I went to an Adobe Roadshow presentation on Thursday of last week where they were showing off the newest and shiniest bit of the updated suite. There is one particular Photoshop feature that I can’t wait to try. Image Auto-Align looks really useful. Have you ever taken a group photo only for someone to be looking away from the camera or closing their eyes? You quickly take another one before anyone moves, only to have someone else do something to ruin the shot.
This is where Auto-Align comes in. Photoshop will automatically align the pixels in the two photos allowing for a mask to be used to “paint out” any features that are not perfect. The person looking away from the camera in one shot is removed and replaced with the pixels where they are looking at the camera.
When my copy of the CS3 suite arrives I will do a demo of how its done.
Anyone who would like to is welcome to have a go at this (I am supposed to list 5 bloggers but I like this cop out option better)
What were you doing ten years ago?
People would be very surprised where I was 10 years ago. Let me just say that I was about to change careers.
What were you doing 1 year ago?
About the same as I am doing now.
Five Snacks You Enjoy:
1. Tims Tams
2. chocolate
3. Jelly Tip Ice Block
4. My wife’s carrot and pineapple cake
5. Anything made by my Mum
Five Songs to Which You Know all the Lyrics:
1. Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin
2. Half the songs of AC-DC
3. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm by Crash Test Dummies
4. The Vs. album by Pearl Jam
5. Lightening Crashes by Live
Five Things You Would Do If You Were a Millionaire:
1. Retire
2. Learn guitar
3. Pay for children’s education
4. Donate to charity
5. Pay off mortgage
Five Bad Habits:
1. Procrastination
2. Pessimism
3. Not finishing lists
4.
5.
Five things you like doing:
1. Reading
2. Listening to music
3. Watching movies
4. Mountain Bike Riding
5. Motorcycle riding
Five things you’ll never wear again:
1. A yellow plastic rain coat
2. A tie (I hope)
3. Football boots (unfortunately)
4. A motorcycle helmet (if my wife has her way)
5. A “kick me” sign on my back
Five favourite “toys”
1. Mountain Bike
2. Computer (s)
3. iPod
4. Coffee Machine
5. My mind
If you want to have a go at this leave a comment so I know to check it out and learn something about you.
From Matthew at eJabs - as we get older the amount of water in our bodies decreases. A timely reminder to drink lots of water. But there’s water in beer right?
Arnie at Critical Assumption showed me his new business card and introduced me to the world of gaping void cartoons. (I had been meaning to check this out for a while after seeing the cartoons on Arnies site some time ago)
From Rinsem’s Rink - Walnut trees have chemicals in their leaves to stop other trees growing near them.
To mark the end of another week of exam marking here is a short quiz for you.
Consider the following
Issue 1 - The Federal Government and Opposition cannot agree on this issue despite it having very little to do with party ideology. It is an issue that impacts everyone. It is a world wide issue. Decisions made now about this issue will have far reaching consequences.
Is this issue:
(a) Energy use and sustainability; or
(b) A pay rise for politicians of almost twice the rate of inflation
Issue 2 - There has been virtually no debate about this issue. Both major parties have given their absolute support for it. When questioned about this issue they have made dismissive, off-hand remarks.
Is this issue:
(a) Energy use and sustainability; or
(b) A pay rise for politicians of almost twice the rate of inflation
How did you go with the quiz? Do I have to give the answers?
Ah, that feels better. I can sense the fear coming from Microsoft HQ now.
I’m in the final stages of planning for my move to the Mac. The finance minister has given her blessing. All that remains is to find a gullible bank manager.
I have been reading about the latest version of parallels, which will be on my list of software to acquire, and learned about a piece of pure genius from Bill’s Boffins. It seems that the EULA for Windows Vista does not allow for the Home Basic or Home Premium versions to be run under virtualization. For the provilege of using "the best version of Windows ever" I would have to buy one of the more expensive versions.
I don’t actually intend purchasing any version of Vista at the moment. I own several copies of XP Pro and this will be just fine for running the occasional Windows application. I just believe there would be a restriction like this. Some time down the track I may in fact want to install Vista. I can envisage members of my family running Vista Home and needing support. I will find it difficult to give support without having my own copy installed. Apparantly when that time comes I will have to pay the extra money for a business focused edition.
According to iTWire, the reason for the restriction is security based. To quote from iTWire:
Microsoft’s original justification for the restriction is security. It’s not that Vista Home is inherently less secure than the other versions, just that the company feels that those who opt for Home aren’t sophisticated enough to manage security in a virtualised environment.
Two things come to mind - 1. don’t insult me! 2. I thought Vista was the most secure operating system known to man.
I’m currently up to my ears in exam marking and report card writing. There has been precious little time therefore for much else and all my creative energies have been spent on said report cards.
In order to release the pressure on my bull$h!t valve I thought I would write some of the things I can’t say in report cards. The names, genders and species have been changed to protect the defendant (me)
Mary is outgoing and cheerful - Mary would talk under wet cement
John appears to enjoy his IT lessons - John is a borderline deviant who spends his IT lessons working out ways to access porn sites
Susan is a quiet and reflective student - Susan is an EMO and hasn’t spoken to me or looked me in the eye all semester
Harry is a gifted IT student - Harry has mastered the art of circumventing the school firewall so he can access porn sites
Jennifer always has something to offer in class discussions - Jennifer thinks she knows everything and has the right to tell the world
John is well respected by his peers - John is popular because you, his parents, let him and his friends have wild parties
Bob is finding mathematics difficult - Bob is failing because he does no work and you will blame me for his poor performance
I don’t know whether I am late to the party on this, but I have just discovered (via The Lab with Leo on the How To Channel) a number of online file conversion options. Zamzar in particular is going to be very useful for me in the future as Office 2007 becomes more widely used and I therefore need to convert word documents back to the old .doc format. It also does audio and video and emails the file to you when it is done. It’s free and like everything else it seems these days is in Beta.
I was searching through some old emails and came across a list of quotes from Rugby players, coaches and commentators.
“Nobody in Rugby should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.” - Jono Gibbs - Chiefs
“I’m going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes.” - Rodney So’ialo - Hurricanes - on University
“You guys line up alphabetically by height.” and “You guys pair up in groups of three, then line up in a circle.” - Colin Cooper - Hurricanes head coach
Chris Masoe (Hurricanes) on whether he had visited the Pyramids during his visit to Egypt: “I can’t really remember the names of the clubs that we went to.”
“He’s a guy who gets up at six o’clock in the morning regardless of what time it is.” - Colin Cooper on Paul Tito
Kevin Senio (Auckland), on Night Rugby vs Day Games “It’s basically the same, just darker.”
David Nosafora (Auckland) talking about Troy Flavell “I told him, ‘Son, what is it with you. Is it ignorance or apathy?’ He said, ‘David, I don’t know and I don’t care.’
David Holwell (Hurricanes) when asked about the upcoming season: “I want to reach for 150 or 200 points this season, whichever comes first.”
“Andy Ellis - the 21 year old, who turned 22 a few weeks ago"(Murray Mexted)
“Colin has done a bit of mental arithmetic with a calculator.” (Ma Nonu)
“He scored that try after only 22 seconds - totally against the run of play.” (Murray Mexted)
“We actually got the winning try three minutes from the end but then they scored.” (Phil Waugh Warratah)
“I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.” (Jerry Collins)
“That kick was absolutely unique, except for the one before it which was identical.” (Tony Brown)
“I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father.” (Tana Umaga)
“Sure there have been injuries and deaths in rugby - but none of them serious.” (Doc Mayhew)
“If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again."(Anton Oliver)
“I would not say he (Rico Gear) is the best left winger in the Super 14, but there are none better.” (Murray Mexted)
“I never comment on referees and I’m not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat.” (Ewan McKenzie)
Murray Deaker: “Have you ever thought of writing your autobiography?” Tana Umaga: “On what ?”
“Well, either side could win it, or it could be a draw."(Murray Mexted)
“Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer."(Murray Mexted)
Anyone who takes a passing interest in computers these days is probably aware of the potential risks of using a computer online. The issue of security is increasingly being used as ammunition in the never ending battle waged by the devotees of the various operating systems available to the computer user. The fact that Windows is constantly under attack from viruses, trojans, spyware and other nasties has become the stone in the slingshot for the David and Goliath battle between the likes of Apple and Linux versus Microsoft.
I confess that my attitude towards Microsoft has been less than charitable lately and nothing much has changed in this regard. I also do not profess to being an expert in the field of computer security. The fact remains that I have five computers in my home running Windows and only one running Linux so I take a keen interest in Windows security.
I therefore read with interest a report on ZDnet entitled Windows vs Linux security report card redux. For those not interested in reading the report an image from story is included below. According to this report, admittedly led by Jeff Jones, security strategy director in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, Vista is the most secure operating system.
Obviously all computer operating systems have security flaws. Are these better or worse in Windows compared to Mac or Linux? I have no idea. I do know that I would rather live in area where the rate of home break-ins is low or non-existent regardless of the number of locks I can put on my doors. What do you think?
Who is the Coach? - Self styled life coach to the masses; part time ballet critic; full time sports critic; nude twister umpire; unemployed still life model; "trust me, I'm on the internet"
A more serious look at who I am can be found on the About page.
