afog 73
Mon AM 05/07:
Gah! Nearly a week with no updates. I fear I must claim operating system updates, earache, distractracion by pretty pictures, and general slackness.
I got to test out my wet weather plans last Thursday ... riding home in light rain worked well. All I need now is some goggles to keep the rain off my glasses and perhaps some gloves. For the Goggles I am tending towards a set of clear lens Skiing goggles. The gloves will probably also have to be ski wear as well.
I have been playing with Panorama Tools with PTStitcher and PTPicker. This is a lot better than Pandora but without the fancy front ends it is not at all user friendly. I highly recommend Big Ben's Panorama Tutorials which contain lots of useful information about getting Panorama Tools to work. I'm still working on getting a panorama to stitch without some pieces going off into distortion. *sigh*
The idiot from afog 64 was back last Tuesday. If you are near the intersection of Aberdeen and William streets in Northbridge between 08:00 and 08:30 and you see a Silver Grey BMW double parked opposire Fazio's Gym then please report it to the Perth City Council's parking department. 8-(
Had a run-in with the video drivers (last mentioned afog 28 ) again. As near as I can can tell the problem seems to fix after you modifiy the timestamp on the /etc/modules.conf file. So when I got another kernel security update last week I decided to test this theory. So, of course, the Nvidia drivers don't even blink when the machine is rebooted after the update. Aaaaaarrrgggggghhhhhh!
I've added something new to my list of least favourite sensations. Having a couple of (cold) drops of Auralgan slide into your earhole. Gah!
Posted on 04 July 2004 at 07:17 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 74
Look Steveg! A pretty picture!!!! Bwwahhahahaah!
Posted on 04 July 2004 at 09:59 PM by Alicia Smith
afog 75
Wed PM 07/07:
Wild and woolly weather outside. I'm still managing to avoid riding through the worst weather so far. Bound to trip up soon though.
Left work in the near-dark (6pm) on Monday and as I rode past "Lake Trinity" I could vaugely see a horde of wood ducks feeding there. I had noticed earlier that the population does seem to go up come nightfall but never to this degree.
Major tooth collapse tonight ... I'm going to have to make an appointment with the dentist tomorrow.
Leece: I'm distracted by pretty pictures I can see not by untrustworthy claims of pretty pictures. Actually the pictures were the various interesting attempts of Panorama tools to stitch the sculpture panorama from the front of Midland Railway Workshops. I guess they owed more to Cubism than photorealism 8-(.
Posted on 07 July 2004 at 08:08 AM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 76
I knew what you meant, I was just making a feeble attempt at humour. :-) This rain has been pretty impressive, in the past 24 hours I have managed to collect what must be over 400 litres in the rainwater tank. It's overflowing now, onto the mandarin tree.
Posted on 07 July 2004 at 08:57 PM by leece
afog 77
Fri AM 09/07:
Leece: Not to worry, just Steveg being dour. How long does 400 litres last the three of you for drinking water?
I've noticed that I'm not logging in quite so regularly now that I'm not playing Civilisation: Call to Power by e-mail. Between that and work ramping up I am not quite so moved to post regularly. And did I mention it is dark nasty winter here? No getting up at 05:00 for a couple of hours at the computer at this time of year!
Posted on 08 July 2004 at 07:00 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 78
The tank is 1200 litres. It never really got empty last year...
I "go to the well" and fill 18 litres of water containers for the kitchen about every 5 days, which we use for drinking, coffee, tea etc. It doesn't get the kettle all scaley or the coffee maker either which is a bonus. So I guess it could be calculated ... but not by my pitiful maths skills.
I had drained off a third of it to the front pond, because I knew big rain was coming, and the white cloud mountain minnows needed topping up with some non-yucky water.
Posted on 09 July 2004 at 05:51 AM by Alicia Smith
afog 79
Sat AM 10/07:
Played Age of Mythology boardgame last night with Rob, Leece, and Gary. The supposed two hour playing time stretched for five hours and we were probably only a turn from the official end when we finished at 1AM. Possibly I was going to win on the basis of 'most buildings' but Leece might have taken out 'the wonder', or Rob with "largest army". Gary was in the unfortunate position that he was being raided by both Rob and myself because he had things we wanted and Leece didn't. This is another beer and pretzels game like Attack. Good fun and a wide range of possible strategies.
Leece: My calculator reckons that tank as 47 weeks worth of drinking water. A good reserve.
Six Black Swans, eight Mountain Ducks, and a loafing pair of Wood Ducks lurking near "Lake Trinity" yesterday lunchtime.
Found a nice little Japanese restaurant called "U" in Royal street East Perth. Nice food ... fairly standard range ... very small premises.
Posted on 09 July 2004 at 08:57 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 80
Sun PM 11/07:
Watched the last episode of Seven Wonders of the Industrial World a short time ago. I might be just imagining things but there does seem to be a strong subtext about the danger these projects present to their workers. And the Engineers mentality seems to be that each project is the justification for the employment of any available means. This weeks episode was on the Hoover dam. I've seen documentry footage on the building of the dam before but not with this much detail about the living and working conditions.
Posted on 11 July 2004 at 10:22 AM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 81
Re: That evil game of Age of Mythology. He's being modest. He woulda won. I'm sure I would've come second though.
Rematch! Rematch!
Posted on 12 July 2004 at 05:05 AM by Alicia Smith
afog 82
Tues AM 13/07:
Rematch is good. I'll have some idea of what I'm doing this time. All you have to do is persuade Gary to bring it. Oh and text Richard and Clara to be there by 8PM if they want to play. 8-)
Despite all the rain not much seems to have reached the dams. I'm sure I can remember soaking rain lasting two to three days at a time when I was young. Now it seems to be the front comes through and it is all over in 4 hours or so.
Posted on 12 July 2004 at 07:31 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 83
Wed AM 14/07:
My tooth started twinging yesterday and the dentist appointment isn't until Friday ... I'm going to be carrying a bottle of clove oil for the next couple of days.
The nocturnal shift of wood ducks was out in force last night. As the puddles recede and expose the fresh grass the wood ducks are here in force to reap the bounty. The daytime mountain ducks appear to be filter feeders they hold their beaks almost horizontal and sweep their head back and forth in a manner reminiscant of a spoonbill. The swallows are also out in force during the daytime swooping and zooming over any puddle of standing water.
Posted on 13 July 2004 at 06:52 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 84
Fri PM 16/07:
No Age of Mythology rematch tonight. Gary has been offspringed (offsprung?) and can't attend. However next week has been mooted.
Off to the dentist this morning. Oh Joy! As it turned out I didn't have any more problems with toothache. A good thing too I say.
Lukasz, who is taking his ease in Tunisia, spotted the London Natural History Museum's Endeavour Botanical Illustrations virtual display.
Posted on 15 July 2004 at 06:57 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 85
Mon AM 19/07:
Another weekend has whistled by. Where do they all go?
Friday night was playing Taj Mahal a Rudolf Knizia designed strategy game set in 18th Century India where powerful nobles contest for influence in the court of the Moghul emperors. I managed to just beat out Rob at the last turn. Making this the first time I have won this game.
Saturday was shopping and then going to JAFWA.
Sunday was the WASFF meeting and cooking Tamatar Ghosht, Same Bhaji, and Khatti Toor Dal Tarka. All from Joyce Westrip's Moghul Cooking. Strangely enough this had nothing to do with Fridays litle win. This is one of my most used cookbooks.
Fridays little dentist trip went well. The broken filling was replaced with no more than mild discomfort. Modern laser based dentistry tools greatly reduce the amount of drilling. The filling was Fujibond which I googled to find:
Resin-modified glass-ionomer (RMGI) adhesive agents are very limited in number, but are mentioned here for completeness. RMGI adhesives, such as Fujibond LC (GC America, Alsip, IL), consist of a mild conditioner and a glass-ionomer adhesive that is mixed and applied in two steps. Potential advantages include chemical as well as mechanical bonding and fluoride release. However, like the self-etching adhesives, very little clinical data is available.
Posted on 18 July 2004 at 07:20 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 86
Wed AM 21/07:
Wild and Woolly weather outside. Not much in the way of rain but the winds are strong enough that I am thinking riding is going to be a losers game.
The puddle that I have been calling "Lake Trinity" has almost dried up. The Mountain Ducks have shifted to cropping grass and the evening shift of Wood Ducks seem to have been mostly replaced by Pacific Black Ducks.
Monday night as I was riding home a car came up behind me, slowed down, and then, at the narrowest point of the road and as I was passing a parked car, passed me. Further up the road it turned into the local convent. A little further on at the Church associated with the convent another car, coming from the opposite direction, cut the corner at a higher than safe speed to turn into the church driveway before I passed. Unfortunately I had to slam on the brakes to avoid running into the side of the car. I guess being devout doesn't make you a good or considerate driver. 8-(
Posted on 20 July 2004 at 06:53 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 87
Regarding those inconsiderate religious drivers: Maybe they're just trying to put the fear of God into us...
Posted on 21 July 2004 at 10:33 PM by Alicia Smith
afog 88
Sat PM 24/07:
Two and a half days of periodic rain. Some of it quite heavy. "Lake Trinity" has recharged and on Friday I saw my first ducklings for the season. Six little fuzzballs that are baby Pacific Black Ducks. Also a largish raptor cruising about ... It wasn't quite identifiable ... possibly a Little Eagle or a Square Tailed Kite ... that kind of short square cut tail.
Last night was the rematch of the Age of Mythology boardgame.Same crew with Richard added. and again we had to break up just before the game played out. Gary had most victory points from largest army. Leece was second with most buildings and then Rob and myself with a few points each from winning battles. I was on the way up with buildings and if I hadn't misplayed my first build card on the last round I would have equaled Leece for buildings.
Posted on 24 July 2004 at 03:44 AM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 89
Good things come in threes, don't they?
First breath steaming morning today. The forecast was for 1 Degree C. Even with an extra layer of polyproplyne underclothes I was in no way toasty warm. In fact my fingertips felt like they were being gnawed off. Then the number 15 bus tried to kill me by passing on a narrow street and pulling into a bus-stop just in front of me. That sure did perk my heart up and suddenly my fingers weren't at all cold. Then as I was nearing the end of Aberdeen street a courier busy talking on his mobile phone threw his car door open directly in front of me. Being on a quiet road I swerved and missed by a whisker. Then as I was at the top of the Claisebrook overpass ramp a wedgie rider coming in the opposite direction cut the corner right in front of me. Then as I was turning onto Royal street the car in front of me suddenly turned left accross the front of me without indicating.
To all these people: "Thank you, I'm awake now". 8-)
Posted on 25 July 2004 at 08:57 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 90
How's your nose? Has it unfrozen?
Posted on 26 July 2004 at 03:16 AM by Poss
afog 91
Tues AM 27/07:
0.4 Degrees C was yesterdays minimum. The coldest morning for twenty something years according to the weather report. Strangely enough it was only my fingers that were causing a problem. My feet were fairly warm because of the activity in the leg muscles and they were also out of the wind behind the sandal soles. Ears were protected by a Polartec headband thingie. And the nose just wasn't noticeably complaining for which I am not complaining at all. I have also successfully used a Polartec scarf to keep my chin warm but that is a little too bulky and didn't actually seem needed.
Stayed up far too late last night finishing a re-read of The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Definitely a top read. I spootted a few lead-ins to Paladin of Souls that I had missed previously. I just like the theology and the whole discussion about the nature of saints. Now if only the real world was a bit more like that.
I need to get into the web pages and do a bit of a pre-spring clean. I have a bunch of links that need to be added and a few that need removing. Configuration Management needs to be split to it's own page in preparation for some content. And the list keeps going. I also need to get back to finishing the archive formatter and doing something about the page manager. *sigh*
Posted on 26 July 2004 at 07:04 PM by Stephen Gunnell
afog 92
Wed AM 28/07:
BLAM! Another month gone. Where? How? Oh! Well never mind. Being flat out at work doesn't encourage me to sit down and do all the accumulated virtual maintenance here.
Two of my freinds that get regular mention on these pages Rob and Leece have started pseudo blogging.
Slightly less cold yesterday morning 1.4 ° C. My back wasn't feeling the best so I wimped out and took the car. Much nicer getting home not mentaly and physically tired.
Posted on 27 July 2004 at 07:04 PM by Stephen Gunnell