Planet Myrkur

Catherine: Stay forever true...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:22:06 +0000

I can't see the screen anymore...

Well, it's Friday and so I'd better update on progress. I think the introduction of the paper is closer to being properly first-drafted now, though I haven't really gotten the overarching narrative together yet because I can't quite find the story I want to tell. But there are words talking about the book the story resides in which has to count for something. As you might be able to tell it's time to move away and let it percolate in my brain for a bit and figure out what needs to go in the other sections.

Thesis words: 2058 / 10000

Paper sections: 1 / 5

Catherine: Forever rolling on, I grew a lot, as a person...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:21:28 +0000

My Philosophy...

"That we are all small, and the world so big. No matter how much we grow, there is always something bigger than ourselves, and our lives collect the detritus and clutter of our past to shape our future. Ever present is a clock, ticking away our seconds and pressuring us to move forward with our lives, too fast sometimes to even notice the destruction we've become.

"A hug becomes a kiss and becomes too clingy, and soon another person is swallowed in the ever growing katamari of our life."

-- The Book of Leon

Catherine: A quiet evening alone...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:04:57 +0000

Joy... Rapture...

Spent much of today seeing dentists and x-ray peoples and all the rest. Haven't got the specialist's opinion yet, but it's very likely that I'm to have my wisdom teeth out as soon as I can get an appointment. Because they're so nestled, I'll need to get a general anaesthetic, which terrifies me to pieces. The only good thing is it can all be done in my Mum's building, so she'll be able to look after me when it's over. Naturally I'll try and see if I can keep them as a souvenir.

This will bring my total of professionally removed teeth to 20.

Thesis words: 745 / 10000

Paper sections: 1 / 5

Ally (photos): Oscar

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:30:06 +0000

ally. posted a photo:

Love this guy. Has the biggest paws I think I've ever seen on a cat.

Ally (photos): Oscar

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:29:32 +0000

ally. posted a photo:

Coolest cat ever. Super laid back and happy. I want to keep him.

Flickr pro account expired and I'm still unemployed and have no money to renew it... so that's a bummer.

Catherine: We didn't need anything else...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:01:36 +0000

Okay then...

So, while most everyone I stalk online is either participating in NaNoWriMo (one of these years they're going to fix the name) or moping that they don't have time for it, I've realised that I need bullying and encouragement to make it even a little bit of the way through writing my thesis. After much procrastination I decided that I'll be unofficially participating in InaDWriMo instead, with a goal of 10,000 words of thesis and my paper written.

This does mean I'm going to be boring and not posting much aside from word counts for a month, but you can deal with that. You are all clever people, after all. And this will hopefully keep my mind of other crap in my life at present.

Thesis words: 585 / 10000

Paper sections: 1 / 5

So, bring on the encouragement. Nag me if I'm slacking on posting (I'll try and do it every four days), and I'll admit my many flaws. I'll also try and figure out a good way to include equations in the count, since my thesis is full of them.

Roberto (photos): QVB

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:10:12 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

New roof on the Queen Victoria Building, quite awesome!

Roberto (photos): E-mail goes here?

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:10:12 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

Our neighbour on Willougbhy street has one of the geekest mailboxes ever!

Roberto (photos): Living colours

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:10:12 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

A stunning design part of the Sydney Living Colour 2009. This one is in front of St. Mary's Cathedral.

Roberto (photos): Overcast

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:10:12 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

Taken from my room in Epping. I liked that there was sunny and light on one side and the heavy clouds were coming from the other side. I guess such is life!

Joe: Pencil Drawings: Zombie, Monkey & Christopher Walken

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:23:13 +0000

ally. posted a photo:

6/2002-10/14/2009

this was my baby. i had owned him since the day he was born (well, technically i didn't get to take him home until 8 weeks after he was born... but he was still mine). went downstairs to get some shoes wednesday morning and noticed he didn't jump up to see me like usual. found him lying in the bottom of his cage. i knew as soon as i saw him that he was dying, but for an animal that's supposed to live 15-20 years, only 7 years and an unexpected death made it even harder. i held him in the last half hour of his life while he slowly died. i am still haunted and feeling an enormous amount of guilt about it, is there something i should have done? could have done? why didn't i go downstairs sooner? lewis buried him the next day, in a shoebox with his box of raisins, banana chips, and his stuffed animal friend he had since he was little. i get really sad everytime i see the empty cage now, thinking about giving it to another chinchilla owner, or donating it to an animal shelter. i get even more sad when i'm sitting on my computer at night and he's not snuggling under my chin. i am thankful that tuesday night i held him until we went to bed, and lewis did as well. but it's still too soon, and it's been really hard.

Ally (photos): rough day...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:20:21 +0000

ally. posted a photo:

Joe: Michael Jackson is a Cowboy

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:06:45 +0000

At the behest of my girlfriend, I’ve drawn a picture of Michael Jackson. I was in the middle of drawing pictures of NBA stars Magic Johnson and Scottie Pippin when she suggested I draw something more “controversial”.

It’s not perfect, but if we’ve learnt anything from Michael Jackson over the past couple of decades, it’s that nobody’s perfect. Not even an alien.

Catherine: It was either that or the dole queue again on monday...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:48:19 +0000

And another thing...

I got a new book:

Eoin Colfer was charming and funny and very Irish, and I liked that he was just as appalled at the thought of writing this book as the rest of us were at the announcement that someone else was writing a Hitchhiker's book. He's only doing the one (because damnit he has to write more Artemis Fowl right now), and he kinda hopes that someone else will pick up the mantle, so that it's not just him and DA to compare. I have to say I kinda agree. They did it for Sherlock Holmes, why not for Arthur Dent? Oh, and Eoin is a mac. *grins*

Of course, now I need to find a way to fit this thing in my suitcase.

ETA: I had completely forgotten I already had a HHGTTG tag on my blog. This makes me inordinately happy.

Ally

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:33:55 +0000

so my chinchilla died today. in my arms. and i still don't have a job.

meh.

Catherine (photos): And Another Thing...

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:32:43 +0000

Sailor Coruscant posted a photo:

Eoin Colfer is a charming man. Funny too.

I haven't read it yet, but something tells me this book will fast become a favourite.

Catherine: she's going for speed...

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:20:09 +0000

Dear Sainsbury's...

I get that you have problems with giving simple instructions, since the "recipe" for my pasta bake said to pierce the lid, place on oven tray and cook for either 15 or 25 minutes depending on if I read the text or the little graphic. So when it was dinner time, I followed the 15 minute instructions, because I figured I could check up on it and adjust as necessary. Therefore it is completely unfair that I found the inside of the container to be made of roasted cracked plastic, when you said the damn thing was oven safe and I should put it on a fucking tray.

Dear everyone else: just so you know, it's possible to have a good reason to eat crumpets for dinner.

Joe: “Real” Drawings & Mickey Mice

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:53:37 +0000

For the past couple of months I’ve been working with kids in after school care programs. One of the great things about it has been drawing with the kids. REAL drawing. Like, with pencils and paper and stuff. It’s been a while since I actually touched lead to parchment, and I was surprised to find that my drawing skills since I last tried it had vastly improved. Guess the computer screen just isn’t conducive to those kind of realisations.

Anyway, I’ve been drawing heaps of pictures for the kids, and trying to get them to draw as well. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to bring any home with me, but tonight I decided to spend an hour or two at home doodling away the old fashioned way.

Here are some results:

This is probably the best vampire I’ve ever drawn. Pretty proud of his wacky bent features.

After reading this article about the history of Mickey Mouse, some sort of Disney bug bit me and I just started drawing page after page of the iconic rodent. He was surprisingly easy to draw and I found that even when I screwed it up, he was still pretty much instantly recognisable. A testament to how well designed this character is. (I also realised that Mickey’s iconic ears always appear as round circles on the top and the back of his head, no matter which angle he’s viewed from. A little trick to garner instant recognition, no doubt.)

I even tried drawing him with my eyes closed and he was still instantly identifiable:

It’s interesting to note that in the early days of Disney, Mickey was a much more mischievous and sometimes downright despicable character. “He was a guy who smoked and drank and shot guns, skewered people with swords, threw Minnie Mouse out of a plane when she wouldn’t kiss him, and abused farm animals,” explains Disneyphile Warren Spector in the previously linked article. Inspired by this, I drew a lecherous Mickey Mouse. A far cry from the sanitised, personality-less mascot he’s become today:

That’s about it for now. I’m really enjoying drawing again for the first time in a while, so hopefully some more sketchy goodness will be populating this blog in the days to come.

Catherine: I was just in the middle of a dream...

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:10:24 +0000

Huh...

There's another iBook G4 in the library today. I feel less outdated all of a sudden.

In good news: I've done by Annual Review paperwork, and it's not even lunchtime yet.

In bad news: I saw part 2 of the new BBC adaptation of Emma last night, and it was terrible. I hated it, and it's my favourite Jane Austen, so I'm usually forgiving of most flaws in the adaptations because I want to see new spins on the story. Very disappointed. (I may still watch part 1 on iView tonight because I can.)

Joe: Wild Things Art Director Sonny Gerasimowicz

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:49:13 +0000

Here’s a great vid I came across on /Film of the Art Director of the Where the Wild Things Are movie talking about his early street art influences, previous career as a “sell-out” and involvement on the upcoming picture. It’s so reassuring to see a real, creative person without any real industry “sway” getting a dream job on a project full of other like-minded individuals helmed by one of the most creative, indivisualist, visionary artists of our time, Spike Jonze. And it’s all funded by a Hollywood studio. It definitely gives hope:

This /Film article goes one step further and suggests that the Wild Things movie is the herald of a new era in mainstream films:

If WTWTA is a hit, it will signal a shot-call for a new era of mainstream films, ones that put creative cred, talent, and integrity ahead of this generational notion that people are generally dumb as shit and desire basking in dumber shit.

If you haven’t seen the Wild Things trailer yet… good lord.

Here it is:

Catherine: Ding dong the bells are gunna chime...

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:14:03 +0000

Back from the theatre...

And it was lovely. Saw My Fair Lady, which wasn't a favourite before, but it is now. There were a few changes from the movie version, very slight, just enough to give Eliza a little more spunk in standing up to Professor Higgins.

Perhaps my favourite change was to the last few minutes of the musical, which went as follows:

Professor Higgins is downtrodden and mopey that Eliza ditched him. He puts on the gramophone recording of her first arrival, and sits down at his desk to mope. There is serious moping to be had.

Enter Eliza from behind. She looks rather gratified at the moment, but also knows that this is somewhat pathetic, so she turns off the gramophone. Adopting her old accent, she says, remembering the incident, "I washed my hands and face before I come, I did."

Henry near falls out of his chair as he stands and cries her name, stunned that she came back. Unsure of what to do now, he sits back in his chair, and tries to adopt his old manner, but he's clearly off balance. "Where the devil are my slippers?" he asks, turning away from her.

Eliza picks them up, an evil gleam in her eyes, and throws the bloody slippers fondly in his direction (taking care not to hit him this time). Henry turns around slowly, realises she's forgiven him, and then races across the room to embrace her, and they pash as the curtain slowly falls.

And in the front row of the audience, Catherine sighs happily, because that was an awesome ending to an awesome evening.

In other news, I think I'm going to a Eoin Colfer meet (maybe signing?) on Wednesday. "His" new book will be out Monday (can I resist buying a copy on the day? I think not), so he's on tour being awesome. OMG, and I have a towel he can sign! Can I pull off being that much of a fangirl with a straight face? I doubt it.

Catherine: my only chance is giving up the fight...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:46:19 +0000

Yum...

It turns out that fresh pot noodles are absolutely delicious.

(By which I mean I found and bought a "just add boiling water" style pot noodle in the fridge section of M&S, full of fresh vegies, and it's very tasty. Even the prawns.)

((Also of note, a realisation on the way back from the shops: if doing something mind-numbingly boring all day long makes me want to kill myself, I should probably put off doing any more of it until I'm home and have a decent support network. By which I mean someone to go drinking with afterwards.))

Catherine: I have been waiting for your smile...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:44:30 +0000

Hey, Amazon...

I was kinda expecting that whole "2 days until we dispatch it + 3-5 days for delivery", thing to mean my stuff would be here next week (when the landlady's away and I don't need to feel guilt about getting a box). Not, you know, two days after I ordered it.

Ah well, stuff, due on Thursday. Woo!

Ally (photos): Amy

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:45:37 +0000

ally. posted a photo:

Took school pictures for my sister today. This one was my favorite.

Roberto: God Save the Queen!

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:02:35 +0000

Because the British bureaucrats will sink the kingdom.

I think I have been officially ripped off by a foreign country. Yeah you guessed correctly, the British didn’t reply to my visa working visa request at the end of September as promised. I sent another fax and they haven’t replied yet. They state that there’s no refunds once an application is placed. They can give no information over the phone. And there no signs of my 600 pounds of course.

On the good news, I started to apply for jobs in Australia and it happens there are some companies interested in sponsorships. Also, I got another skills assessment from ACS, which place my skills as 2231-79 Computer Professional - specialising in Data Warehousing (fancy, isn’t it?), which in part of the Critical Skills List. Still the application make take 12 months or so. Anyway, I’m trying to be a bit more careful about the jobs and companies I’m applying for. Better not rushing and landing an interesting position.

About Denmark, well they haven’t replied yet although I haven’t chased either. That’s a different case. The government says that they’re very short of supply of specialised IT workers, however I have found very few jobs on internet. Not sure if Danes prefer to advertise in newspapers, or simply they exclusively do it in Danish. Anyway, I think it’d be a competitive advantage if I know some Danish, useless outside of Denmark but at least I won’t get lost in København

Joe: Mobile Blogging

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:55:24 +0000

Testing out blogging from my phone (an old hand-me-down Nokia).

Just saw UP for the 2nd time. Teared up in certain parts, which didn’t happen the 1st time. I know it’s become a cliché, but Pixar movies have so much heart.

Catherine

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:22:02 +0000

Annoyed Cat is Annoyed...

The only thing worse than being woken in the middle of the night in England by a spam phone call when you're on the do not call list is realising you just paid overseas roaming charges to be woken in the middle of the night in England by a spam phone call when you're on on the do not call list.

(I normally sleep with the phone off. I must have forgotten last night.)

Manda

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:03:01 +0000

View Poll: Is Having a Paid Account Awesome?

Roberto (photos): Chinese embassy

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:19:33 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

One of the pictures I took with my mobile: the Chinese embassy in Canberrara, and in front of them the Falun Gong in protest.

Roberto (photos): Vulcan Hotel

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:39:30 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

Found it around Ultimo. I was about to enter and give the Vulcan salute, but I thought it was too much.

Roberto (photos): University of Sydney

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:39:30 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

Walking around Victoria Park. Quite interesting building.

I took the picture with the phone and colour-corrected with The Gimp to make it suck less due to poor quality.

Roberto (photos): There is such a thing as free beer

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:11:55 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

They say that there's no such a thing as a free beer, however there is!

I got an e-mail offering me a sample of the new VB Raw, I just signed up, a bit of spam later I got a six-pack. Cool!

Catherine: Makenai!

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:15:11 +0000

Looking for an excuse...

If this paper mentions "star seeds" one more time I'm going to quit and just go watch Sailorstars on youtube.

Roberto: Under Martian skies

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:28:52 +0000

I woke up today, opened the window and saw a Total-Recall-like Sydney, things are orange and dusty. There’s a massive sandstorm covering large parts of New South Wales at the moment. Apparently Sydneysiders have no experience with the health problems of suspended particles because I saw pictures of people surfing and exercising! If there were an IMECA count in Sydney, I guess we’ll be above 150. Below a picture of the sun, and this is how the sun looks like in Mars.

Roberto (photos): Epping with dust

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:58:31 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

My camera try to compensate the whites and it doesn't seem as orange it is. Still, there's a very very fine dust everywhere.

Roberto (photos): Martian sun

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:58:31 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

The sun on Sydney. We don't need to go to Mars to experience a martian-like environment.

Catherine: All I can give you is love...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:20:46 +0000

sobs...

I have a cold and it's making me miserable. I walked home (via the chemist for some paracetamol and cough lollies) feeling that I would never be warm again (and very sorry for myself) and as I walk in the door Jane hands me a package:

and now I miss my mummy very much.

Catherine: The present is even more important than the future...

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:20:48 +0000

Back in Cambridge...

Little bit exhausted from too much vacation. *grins* Jessie, John and Daniel send their love.

Ally (photos): Carl

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:31:19 +0000

ally. posted a photo:

James: Grid keyboards

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:39:43 +0000

Let’s imagine you wanted to align the keys on your keyboard into a grid. How would you decide how to line them up? There appear to be two approaches:

‘Nearest match’, where each key is assigned to the closest grid cell, like this Crayola keyboard:
‘De-staggering’, where you imagine the keyboard as a series of left-leaning columns of keys and then straighten it, like the TypeMatrix keyboards:

As you can see, this results in the bottom row of alphas being differently offset, depending on your approach. Option 1 leaves the keys closest to where you expect to find them (W and Z are nearly lined up already on a standard layout, so the only significant movement is in the home row). Option 2 leaves the keys arguably better-lined-up for traditional touch-typing, though:

Standard qwerty fingering (image from Wikipedia/KTouch)

In the finger-memory of a traditional typist, there’s already a keyboard grid: The left-most column in the example above extends from 1 down to Z.

But nobody’s really making grid keyboards apart from crazy ones like the above, right? Not full-size keyboards, anyway. But mobile devices (where touch-typing isn’t practical anyway) seem to be really into the idea:

Palm (or HandSpring, I guess, since it introduced the keyboard) went with option 1:

Palm Pre (image source)

Meanwhile, Nokia seems to be hedging its bets (both of these devices are from 2009):

Nokia N97 (image source)

Nokia N900 (image source)

The rumoured Motorola Sholes Android phone (named after the inventor of qwerty?) uses a mutation of option 1 (the home row is also shifted to the right), unlike Motorola’s just-announced Cliq (which goes with standard option 1).

(And then, of course, there’s Dell, who apparently once offset one row of keys on a full-size, non-grid laptop keyboard, just to keep things interesting.)

But anyway, there hasn’t been enough cyberpunk in this blog post yet. Is a miniature keyboard really the best way to get text into a mobile computer? Here’s a real input device (originally from “Intelligent Image Processing” by Steve Mann, John Wiley and Sons, 2001):

Steve Mann’s septambic keyer

And yes, I’m mostly including that picture because it reminds me so much of Ghost in the Shell’s dismantled-cyborg imagery.

Roberto: Back to Canberra

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:45:01 +0000

If you check my Flickr, you’ll see more pictures of Canberra. I had to come back last Friday, to request a new passport in the Mexican embassy. To kill some time before my appointment I went to Old Parliament House. Now it’s a museum, quite awesome, I had the chance to sit on the cabinet’s chair and discuss with my fellow ~~tourists~~ ministers the issue of the “boat people” in the 70’s.

The Mexican embassy is a funny place. There are no security guards at all, they made me wait for around an hour. Besides, now it happens that the passports no longer take 1 working day like in Mexico, but 6 to 8 weeks. Oh well, at least I spent a good day in the capital.

Roberto (photos): 25 years with electricity

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:34:10 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

I just started laughing in the middle of the street (anyway there was just a few people waiting for a bus), but immediately remembered the episode when the Simpsons came to Australia and there's a post stamp that says "Celebrating 30 years of electricity". Well, nearly!

Roberto (photos): Illumicube

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:33:42 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

Where are the lights? Well they're only on at night, next time I'll check this out after 7 or so. Anyway, the sculpture is not quite interesting, I read that it has many colourful lights with respond when touched.

Roberto (photos): ACTION buses

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:33:19 +0000

my big blue gorilla posted a photo:

ACT (which stands for Australian Capital Terroritory, something like Mexico's Federal District of the District of Columbia) is so handy names with something with ACT: such as the ACTion buses. Notice the space for the bikes.

Planet Myrkur

Catherine: Stay forever true...

I can't see the screen anymore...

Catherine: Forever rolling on, I grew a lot, as a person...

My Philosophy...

Catherine: A quiet evening alone...

Joy... Rapture...

Ally (photos): Oscar

Ally (photos): Oscar

Catherine: We didn't need anything else...

Okay then...

Roberto (photos): QVB

Roberto (photos): E-mail goes here?

Roberto (photos): Living colours

Roberto (photos): Overcast

Joe: Pencil Drawings: Zombie, Monkey & Christopher Walken

Joe (photos): David & Kyle @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Lucy @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Sea Turtle @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Jellyfish @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Jana @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Jingili Footbridge

Joe (photos): Streamers

Joe (photos): This is what I think of carbon

Joe (photos): Marching @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Spongebob @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Lucy & Scuba Business Man @ 350 Darwin

Joe (photos): Human Tide-Line Panorama @ 350 Darwin

Ally (photos): Orangutan

Roberto: … and the power is back!

Catherine: I'm gonna start my weekend with gin tonic and lime...

And off we go...

Ally (photos): RIP

Ally (photos): rough day...

Joe: Michael Jackson is a Cowboy

Catherine: It was either that or the dole queue again on monday...

And another thing...

Ally

Catherine (photos): And Another Thing...

Catherine: she's going for speed...

Dear Sainsbury's...

Joe: “Real” Drawings & Mickey Mice

Catherine: I was just in the middle of a dream...

Huh...

Joe: Wild Things Art Director Sonny Gerasimowicz

Catherine: Ding dong the bells are gunna chime...

Back from the theatre...

Catherine: my only chance is giving up the fight...

Yum...

Catherine: I have been waiting for your smile...

Hey, Amazon...

Ally (photos): Amy

Roberto: God Save the Queen!

Joe: Mobile Blogging

Catherine

Annoyed Cat is Annoyed...

Manda

Roberto (photos): Chinese embassy

Roberto (photos): Vulcan Hotel

Roberto (photos): University of Sydney

Roberto (photos): There *is* such a thing as free beer

Catherine: Makenai!

Looking for an excuse...

Roberto: Under Martian skies

Roberto (photos): Epping with dust

Roberto (photos): Martian sun

Catherine: All I can give you is love...

*sobs*...

Catherine: The present is even more important than the future...

Back in Cambridge...

Ally (photos): Carl

James: Grid keyboards

Roberto: Back to Canberra

Roberto (photos): 25 years with electricity

Roberto (photos): Illumicube

Roberto (photos): ACTION buses

Roberto (photos): There is such a thing as free beer

sobs...