What do Dr. Who - Genesis of the Daleks (from 1975), “Allo, allo!”, Babylon 5, Pirates of the Caribbean and the very ridiculous “Leprechaun 4: In Space” have in common?
Archive for May, 2007
Leprechaun 4: In Space
Sunday, May 20th, 200780087355
Thursday, May 17th, 2007Apparently Texas Instruments have a calculator that wirelessly transmits students calculations to the teacher’s PC, theoretically so the teacher can check which students are having problems.
smart car on Route 66
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007An interesting article about the experience of driving a micro-compact smart car amidst the sea of pickups in the US. smart cars are being released there in 2008, I’ve already seen a few around town and at Uni here. Although I note that the version to be released on the US market has a bigger engine, thus higher top speed and lower fuel efficiency. Sigh.
Panasonic World Solar Challenge 2007
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007The traffic on the mailing list is starting to pick up and no doubt the teams are looking at the number of days remaining and trying to work out how they’re going to get everything together in time to get to Darwin for a few weeks before the 21st of October and the start of thePanasonic World Solar Challenge 2007.
This year is likely to see a lot more interest in the contest that’s been running since the first WSC 20 years ago, now that more attention is focused on the environment.
Although the official announcment hasn’t been made, it looks like the teams will at least comprise:
Adventure class:
Challenge Class:
- Fachhochschule Bochum SolarCar Team
- Houston Solar Race Team (High School entry)
- Kansas State University Solar Racing Team (I note they’re using a CSIRO motor
- University of Waterloo
I’m also expecting a Sungroper 3 entry from Leeming Senior High School and Willeton Senior High School with Sungroper 1, assuming all the relevant hurdles can be overcome to get the staff, students and cars to the starting line in Darwin.
Having been on two World Solar Challenges, if you can get a chance to compete in it, go (even if it involves building your own car :). The experience of being amongst teams of very smart people from all over the world all competing against (and at the same time helping) each other in the midst of the relative nowhere of Australia is incomparable.
Why is public transport costing more?
Saturday, May 12th, 2007So, given the environmental catastrophe we’re probably facing, wouldn’t it make more sense for the state government to lower the cost of public transport, rather than raising it 4.8%?
He/She/It ratio
Friday, May 11th, 2007I checked out this blog’s He/She ratio, and it’s 43% to 57%. If you chuck in ‘it’ as well you get 16%/21%/62%.
My Search Zeitgeist
Thursday, May 10th, 2007Things people search for on my blog (at least the ones in languages I can vaguely understand):
- puggle (the dog)
- larousse gastronomique (Mmmm)
- June Wetherby (Notting Hill fans, looking for the park bench from the movie that now resides in Queens Park in Perth)
- serpenti giganti (on a giganto aero f*cking della madre)
- maternity boy arabic
- baby fish translation (Blub. I’m guessing they were looking for Babelfish translation)
- therapie mettre en forme de tasse (et un lie down)
- names for rabbits (Dinner!)
- pauley perette (Yum!)
- the sentimental philistine
- canguru alimento (Grass, man)
- geordi laforge 2007 (not doing much)
- myspace borat mankini (Who would have thought there was something worse than ‘borat mankini’)
- available jobs at the jim henson company (Muppet proctologist)
- world domination toolkit (Someone else is looking for one? Curses!)
- biscotti anzac (They ate them with their capuccinos in the trenches)
- pudding wodka rezepte (Vodka pudding? Now there’s an idea!)
- fish that tastes like chicken? (It’s Good Friday and I want chicken but don’t want to go to hell)
- han solo ancient weapons good blaster t-shirt (I want one!)
- mix rum and oil….what happens (Oily rum?)
- do u know anything about the canberra tales (Not I)
- chanson en dentaire (To be a dentist…)
- do u know anything about the canberra tales (Are they like the Canterbury ones?)
- sex art (I wish!)
- my computer slow what i do (put it in box, send it back)
- arab love tv (open to interpretation)
- foto verruche genitali (Please no)
- hedonisme bangkok (Planning a holiday?)
- fat ladies (Dream of large women)
- not allowed arabic movies (South Park?)
- tasting iron after bulimia (I’m guessing it doesn’t taste like victory)
- chess babes (v Deep Frock)
- corby haircut (Someone wants one?)
The weird:
- nomes para miudos (Gnomes for the dumb?)
- football with longest surname (They have names?)
- the person who has everything (You’re looking in the wrong place)
- blog sexual (someone who likes blogs more than people?)
- are pancakes made with plain flour or self raising flour (Either, depending on whether you want crepes or Aunt Jemima style thick things to sop up the maple syrup)
- pictures of baby making positions (This is not the blog you’re looking for)
Guild Card madness
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007So, I went to buy my highly nutritious lunch today at the Guild “Cafe” (namely, a $3.50 pie). At the checkout I’m told that I need to swipe my card over the reader. Of course the reader is unable to separate my SmartRider from my staff card. After manually separating the cards it’s then apparent that the staff card doesn’t work.
Going to the Guild student office I discover that it’s all still in beta, and whilst the Guild can authenticate student card info against university records, it doesn’t have access to staff card information. Thus it looks like UWA Guild affiliate members will need to have a separate guild card they can swipe with (which will mean I’d have 3 cards which would intefere with each other even more…).
I also enquired about the privacy policy, and apparently the agreement between the Guild and UWA prevents the Guild from uniquely identifying Guild members (ie, working out which ones to sell gym memberships too because they eat too many pies). Aggregate information only can be collected.
Enter The Thesis
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007An old webcomic, but one that I’m sure many readers can relate to. Enter The Thesis.
The Magic of Colour
Monday, May 7th, 2007This is pretty cool. Use Photoshop to map the colour palette from some grand master’s painting onto your own photos. via Make.
