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Thu, 29 Jun 2006
[09:41] Death Cab For Cutie
Another concert! We popped out to see Death Cab For Cutie put on a show last night, supported by Viva Voce, this time back in the big auditorium at the Brixton Academy. Viva Voce showed promise but the speakers were up thumpingly high (yeah, I had the trusty Laser Lites) and it was difficult to make out the lyrical content of the songs over the rather energetic drumming - I suspect that they're worth a second look though...
Death Cab For Cutie are another pick from Shonas grab-bag of Things To See And Do. She was introduced to them by her brother who also played a CD for me but I must admit to not really having been taken by them (although the CD he played for me - possibly Transatlanticism - was interesting in that it had a twig wrapped in red thread encased in the spine of the jewel case). They're an American band from Bellingham, Washington and the odd name is taken from a song (obviously of the same name) by a band called "Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band", there's a bit more info on this over at Wikipedia.
Anyway, the concert was pretty good with a lot of happy, poppie tunes and a few more moody pieces to broaden the experience. I enjoyed it even though I'm not a big fan (apart from when they pulled the damn "ooh we're finished....unless you clap and cheer lots in which case we'll come back and do an encore" trick) and Shona got to see one of her favourite bands live and reasonably up-close. The audience was pretty interesting, spread across the age spectrum and including a family with one quite small, shoulder-mounted child right down the front. Apart from one dick (there's always one) who briefly attempted to start his own mosh in the midst of all of us simple, stationary folks it was all nice and easy. The nice 'n easyness carried on all the way home since the 159 bus route runs almost directly past both our front door and that of the Academey - hoorah!
[Posted at: 29/06/2006 17:41]
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Tue, 27 Jun 2006
[13:13] Job Huntin...
It seems that I'm still in the race for the job that I'm chasing. I heard back from the recruiter today that I made it through the technical hiring phase and now it's time for educational history to be verified and references/referees to be consulted, just to make sure that I really WAS telling the truth back in the interviews...
Ultra-big thank-yous go out to the folks who have agreed to provide me with good references (well, I ASSUME that's what you're doing). I understand the time that these things take to complete properly (I've done a couple myself in the past) and I really appreciate that you're willing to do this! The party is on me when I finally repatriate.
[Posted at: 27/06/2006 21:13
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Mon, 26 Jun 2006
[15:53] Lior
We went out to see Lior play at The Spitz tonight. This was a Shona-organised event, I'm not really familiar with Lior, but she figured that for £8 it's got to be worth it dragging me along! You might know him as the talent behind This Old Love, a track that JJJ had on pretty high rotation last year (and which I "broke" my knee whilst listening to, riding home in the storm water drains...but that's another story) or perhaps Autumn Flow which made it into the Hottest 100 at position 43. I certainly had no real association of the name to the music before I went.
I'm certainly glad that I DID go. The Spitz is a nice, small venue - somewhat reminiscent of The Gypsy Bar or Tilleys back in Canberra - I doubt that you'd get more than 200 rammed into the wee attic that is the concert area (downstairs being a restaurant). The cosy venue provided a perfect match for the relaxed and personable gig that Lior played. I don't know if he's normally so interactive but he really had the crowd (me too) under his spell. Possibly this is because said crowd was something like 90% slightly inebriated Australians (he checked), and possibly he played to this by giving Albury a bit of a ribbing and generally slipping in little Australiana tidbits, but overall he just put on a great show that would have been appreciated by anyone who saw it!
Liors music is a blend of Mark Cohn-style lyrics with a Jeff Buckley-esque delivery, he's certainly got a good set of lungs on him. He has an Israeli background and he uses the musical heritage from that part of the world in a couple of his songs, specifically Bedouin Song and the closing "song" of the night, a Hebrew prayer. I'd highly recommend that you check him out if you get a chance.
[Posted at: 26/06/2006 23:53]
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Mon, 19 Jun 2006
[15:34] PasswordSafe 3.01 is out
My favourite password storage facility, PasswordSafe, has just had a major version release. It's had both UI and behind the scenes updates including the ability to collect URL and general notes as well as normal username/password pairs, a brand new DB format and a switch from Blowfish to Twofish. If pwsafe would keep up then everything would be perfect!
[Posted at: 19/06/2006 23:34]
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[15:14] Stinking SPAMwhores
Seems that some bastard has started spamming me via the pollxn comment engine. The IP's from the logs aren't really very helpful and my random sampling has ranged through Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Barbados and even the United States! I suspect that they're using a spider but perhaps it's just a search engine looking for common comment engines.
Step 1 in the anti-SPAM offensive has been renaming the pollxn.cgi script. If it's a spider and is even vaguely intelligent then this will do absolutely nothing to stop it so I'm hoping it's not!
I was thinking of implementing a gruesomely simple CAPTCHA for pollxn but I'll wait and see what happens next. I suppose this is a good time to think about whether it might be time to move back to a proper CMS. Blosxom is nice and simple and very easy to use but there's a lot more that I want to be able to do and I don't know if I really want to write my own CMS (which is essentialy what I'm now doing). It has been fun and interesting but I'm not really game to allow my non-web-savy developments out to play on the internet and with so many good packages out there written by people who actually know what they're doing maybe I should spend my time doing something more useful...
[Posted at: 19/06/2006 23:14]
Updated 20/06/2006 23:17: Day One - no sign of intruders so far...
Updated 21/06/2006 18:17: Day Two - BAH! Foiled. Picked up another six advertisements today. Going to have to do something about this. For now comments are suspended.
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Sun, 18 Jun 2006
[12:02] Conquering "The Monument"
Shona came in to meet me for lunch on Saturday after she finished at the Gym. We had Vietnamese and, because I'd nearly finished at the office she came back and waited for me to finish. It was a REALLY nice day so we stopped for a juice and a laze in the sun in the garden of St. Boltophs, which is just outside where I used to work. London is surprisingly full of little grassy hideaways like this! Anyway, since Shona was so completely knackered (from the gym), we both had huge backpacks and it was such a hot day I thought that it would be a great time to cross another item off our "Things To Do In London" list and tackle the 311 steps that take you to the top of The Monument!
The Monument, or more correctly The Monument to the Great Fire of London, is a sodding great pillar that was built to commemorate the 1666 fire that consumed the considerable majority of the city (more details here). The pillar itself is 61 metres high and contains 311 steps that lead to the (extremely cramped) viewing platform at the top. It is topped by a golden urn that symbolises the fire and, were it to fall over (I think in an Easterly direction) without snapping into little pieces, the urn would land on the spot where the Great Fire was kindled!
There's actually a lot of interesting info on the Wikipedia site that they DON'T state either inside the column (granted there's not a lot of room) or on the fancy pants certificate that they give you if you make it back out the bottom. Apparently the architect, Sir Christopher "cop a load of my hair ya bastards" Wren wasn't just going for looks but designed it as some kind of swiss-army knife of scientific laboratories - it's worth the very short Wikipedia read and a bit more study!
Here now are some photographic proofs of the journey: Shona on the staricase, me at the top with one of the ubiqitous security cameras and a gherkin coming out of my head and finally, to give you some scale, me with the certificate underneath the plaque that's in the tiny little picture of The Monument at the top of this entry.
[Posted at: 18/06/2006 20:02]
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Wed, 14 Jun 2006
[16:34] Tool and the art of mosh infiltration
Due to my friends crazy penchant for oversupplying themselves with concert tickets I was offered the chance to go and see Tool play at the Hammersmith Apollo tonight. I didn't really enjoy the last Tool concert I attended (back in Canberra at the National Convention Center) because it was really, really, REALLY loud. It was so loud that when the guitar started up and synched in with the drums the air was forced from my lungs - seriously. However, since I've really been enjoying their latest album, 10,000 Days, I accepted and I'm rather glad I did!
For starters, these English folks really know how to build a music venue. In a similar fashion to the Brixton Academy (where I saw NIN about the same time last year) the floor is nicely sloped so that those at the back can still see over the squalor bunched up against the barriers at the front and the mid-floor barriers were also present to prevent too much crushage.
The speaker stacks were of a decent size - not the towering monsters that I saw last time and the music was great (I used my last pack of Laser Lites though)! They played a lot of my favourites including Sober, 46 and 2 and a pretty credible version of Ions(!) before finishing up with one of my all time favourites, Aenima. Off the new album they cranked out Vicarious, The Pot and an impressive rendition of Rosetta Stoned, complete with the burbling "stream of conciousness" lyrics - I was well impressed. When the time came for the end of the concert the band stopped playing, threw various accoutrements into the crowd, said goodnight and left. I can't say how refreshing it was to not have to go through the wankery of the whole "encore" performance thing.
It's been a while since I attended a "rock concert" and I realised tonight that it's not so much the live music that I enjoy as the opportunity to get to the front of the mosh (although the music does give you something to concentrate on once you reach the front)! I made it down to the barrier tonight as I usually do, and I really enjoyed getting there. The crowd was quite mellow (no elbows, knees or finger prying near me anyway) so I could pay more antention to what I was doing than normal. Mosh infiltration is an art that requires the application of psychology (to pick your "targets") and body mechanics (to get past them) that you can't really practice in any other environment and I recommend it to those who like to study human psychology, social interaction and get soaked in other peoples sweat!
I would also like to say a big thank-you to the mob doing security at the gig (ICMB I think). I've never come across a nicer bunch of security guards. They were kind, courteous and friendly (are you paying attention you bastards at the ANU bar). Judging by the accents I suspect they are travelling with the band.
I managed to top the night off with the best chips in the universe (with mayo and chilli) from the Waterloo Kebab and Burger house to provide sustenance for the walk home. Life is good!
[Posetd at: 15/06/2006 00:34]
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Mon, 12 Jun 2006
[09:20] Hello from Dublin
I'm sitting in Dublin airport on an eircom internet kiosk (with a browser agent of "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; SiteKiosk 6.2 Build 51)" and an IP of 83.71.63.166 in case you're interested). I'm sitting here because I came over for a job interview yesterday and I'm heading home now, post-interview.
The trip over was a bit of a disaster, I left London Heathrow at 1530 and got into Dublin airport 15 minutes early which was nice but unfortunately my bag didn't. It rocked up at 2249 after a getting drunk at the bar back in London and losing its passport, or that's what it told me anyway. I suspect the more likely explanation is that it's free-flowing straps got caught in the baggage transporting mechanisms and they had to send a trained ferret in to free it or something. Take note! Stick straps down with tape or chuck the whole damn bag in a pillowcase or something.
So anyway, I got my bag and got the bus into town and had Burger King for dinner because it was the only thing still open at 2350. I then walked up to my hotel. It was a very nice and quiet and not at all prepossessing. In fact it was so un-prepossesing that I walked twice around St Stephens Green before I finally found it - yay. So I got checked in at about 0008 and went to bed so I could be "fresh" in the morning.
I did get up on time and do all the morning things although I elected not to have breakfast, mostly because the hotel was of the opinion that breakfast was worth 14 Euros and I was not. Your probably better off on an empty stomach anyway - at least that's what New Scientist told me anyway.
The interviews (four of them) seemed to go well but I've given up trying to gauge such things. No-one spat on me or tried to bang my head against the table for speaking heresy so I'm chalking it up as a positive experience! At very least I met some really cool people, got some new books/authors to check out (Vernor Vinge/Rainbows End) and learned a few things about non-stateful firewalls and STP!
Fingers crossed....
[Posted at: 12/06/2006 17:20
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Fri, 09 Jun 2006
[04:45] Ethereal is now WireShark
It seems that everyones favourite network protocol analyser Ethereal is now known as WireShark. It's allegedly not a fork because the entire dev team is following the project lead and creator (Gerald Combs) to his new job. It's all explained in the WireShark FAQ, in this Ethereal mailing list post and on the WinPcap news page.
I'm finding it a little odd that this is addressed as "...almost (but not quite) a fork..." on the FAQ and nowhere is there any mention of Ethereal ceasing development!? I wonder if it will actually fork and what that will mean. Hopefully it means that we get two really free open-source good programs instead of one!
[Posted at: 09/06/2006 12:45]
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Thu, 08 Jun 2006
[15:04] That's no ORDINARY bus!
There was a bus parked out front this afternoon with a most impressive display of icons on the back window which, I assume, were advertising it's amazing attributes and abilities. Here's what the back window display looked like:
- Our driver has a spiky beard and wears a cycling helmet - beware!
- I assume this pertains to passenger refreshment - All Beers and Spirits. It could be the drivers refreshments of course, which would explain the helmet.
- Licensed to seat 66, with an Enhanced Concubine Enclosure that seats 66. Concubines for all!
- When you're all beer and spirited out and you've finished your concubine - have some freshly brewed coffee...
- and relax with your own personal entertainment system!
- I'm not sure if these means "We have Super levitating seats!" or "Caution: Inhaling the Stench of stockinged feet could cauterise your nose!".
- Should our be-helmeted driver be overcome by the sock stench and drive off a cliff, this bus is equipped with parachutes! Tell Ma that you're going to be OK!
- You're going to have A Super Ride
[Posted at: 08/06/2006 23:00]
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[14:15] More Unicylcing
I've been out nearly every night this week getting in a bit of practice and I'm reasonably comfortable with general pavement riding now. I can cruise without fear of decapitating a small child if I suddenly lose balance and I've barely lost a pint of blood from gouges this week so I decided to step up the difficulty and tackle my first wall today.
Obviously my jumping skills aren't that great yet so I have to start by stepping up onto the wall (it's only about half a metre high) but I CAN ride off and land without causing too much damage! It's amazing how much harder riding in a straigt line is when all of a sudden you HAVE to ride in a straight line or plummet to ashphalty death!
All-in-all I'm really loving this whole unicycling thing; I'm not moving at light speed or anything but I can approach a mild jog as opposed to walking-speed and it's got the added bonus of turning almost any surface into a magical bouncing playground. It's a very similar feeling to the one I used to get when I was a wee nipper and I used to take my bike out for a cruise. I look forward to when I can get down an entire flight of stairs, and back up, without dismounting.
[Posted at: 08/06/2006 22:15]
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Wed, 07 Jun 2006
[14:01] Presents!!!
I've been studying for my CCNA for a while now and I'm pretty happy with my theoretical knowledge but I'm not so sure about router/switch configuration and I am very unimpressed with the way the router simulatior that came with a book I bought works (or doesn't work as the case may be). With that in mind I hit the eBay and got myself a Catalyst 1900 switch and a couple of 1601 Series Routers plus all the cables to practice on. They turned up this morning and I'm looking forward to having a play.
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Tue, 06 Jun 2006
[11:59] Avenue Q
I completely forgot to mention that we went to see Avenue Q last Friday at the Noel Coward Theatre. The theatre was nice and cosy, it was all red velvet and brocade with all sorts of little nooks and crannies that ended up being box seats, not to mention three seperate bars!
The production Avenue Q is a musical told via puppets of the Sesame Street ilk. It tells the story of a university graduate (Princeton) and follows him on his first day out in the real world (kicking off with the song "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?") touring through the various problems that befall one on the way to ultimate wisdom (housing, money, girls, lucky pennies) before finishing up with....well I don't want to spoil it, suffice to say that it IS a moral tale but manages not to be preachy. Or maybe I'm getting too old and I just THINK it wasn't preachy...uh, hang on...
*time passes*
...sorry about that, I'm back. There were some damn kids out the front playing with a ball and making far to much noise. I went and yelled at them, and then I forgot what I was doing and trimmed my nosehairs on the way back. That's why I took so long.
Anyway, I did really enjoy the show and I thought it was pretty cool the way they made no pretence of hiding the pupeteers. It was interesting watching them and their facial expressions/body language and comparing that to what they were manipulating the puppets into doing. A good time had by all!
[Posted at: 06/06/2006 19:59]
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Sun, 04 Jun 2006
[23:47] Unicycle bites man - pictures at 11!
Well, I won't make you wait. You can have the pictures now:
Not content with merely lacerating my shins, my unicycle has moved on to chewing on my socks as well!
Apart from the obvious cuts 'n scratches the weekend went pretty well. I managed to ride from my house, across the road, around the Imperial War Museum and partially down a flight of reasonably gentle stairs without too much death and destruction. I think I can safely say I've acheived UIF Level 1 and can move on with Level 2.
[Posted at: 05/06/2006 07:47]
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Fri, 02 Jun 2006
[09:45] Unlocker is the shiznit!
I've been playing with a piece of software called Unlocker recently and I've decided that not only is it the bee's knees but I'm prepared to swear that it's also the bee's thighs, hips and abdomen (or thorax possibly, whatever bees have)!
Unlocker basically locates whatever processes are locking a file (thus preventing you from deleting it/moving it/etc) and, if possible, removes the lock. This is GREAT for getting Windows to release a USB thumbdrive for instance and much nicer than the old way I've been using of looking for processes using ProcessExplorer and then manually removing the lock.
If for some reason it can't remove the lock then it gives you the option of marking the file for deletion on the next reboot (before anything can get it's grubby hooks into it)
The only way this program could be better would be if it was free. Oh wait, it is! What are you waiting for? Go get it NOW! Huzzah for Cedrick Collomb!
category: /tech | permalink | Comments suspended due to spamwhores