site downtime expected
This site might be sometime during the morning hours of Monday (AEST) as my host moves this site to a new server. Really, I can’t really complain as I get free hosting. Thanks Drew!
oh, and if you still can’t see it on the Tuesday, or Monday afternoon, try holding shift down while you press refresh(reload) in your browser.
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3 hours of sleep and survived
*yawn*
So yeah, I had to hit a 9 o’clock tutorial on Thursday. This means getting up a six, out of the house by seven to catch the bus to get to uni on time. No biggy, it’s what I do every week, even earlier on Wednesdays (if I remember, prayer-meeting) And the same on Fridays.
What does this have to do with 3 hours of sleep?
Well, I had an assignment due on Friday, which I started on Thursday. Yes, I know. *tsk* *tsk*
I also had a prac (java, arrays and strings) the next day to prepare for.
So I worked into the night- in the cold, because that keeps you awake. I didn’t have to resort to a caffeine nap, though I did nap/lie down for 10 minutes (with an alarm) at about 10. I worked and worked, taking breaks every so often, even resorting running on the spot. I also raided the pantry a lot.
Loud Music helps. Audio Adrenalin helps, as does loud Latin music. (mmm….)
However, After completing the major point winning sections, and my programming prac prep, I had an ugly 30 pointer looking at me, and my brain was fried. So I set out my clothes in the bathroom (great motivation to get up) and set my alarm for 4:00AM. This is at 1:00AM.
I have three alarms, a clock radio next to my bed. This is supposed to ease me out of sleep. Then the lamp on my desk is on a timer (like the kind you set up so it looks like you aren’t really on holiday because the lights are going on and off.) Finally, I set the alarm on my phone, and leave that across the room.
Sleep. The alarm sounds- “ARGH!” so I got up and showered, turned on the heat again, and had a cup of tea and the first part of my breakfast. Back to the computer. Finished the assignment. Print. Burn CD. Pack Bag. Breakfast. Out the door for a slightly later bus than usual. Slept roughly 45 minutes on the bus, turned in my assignment (after trekking way over to the other side of the campus, because it’s a new building in the middle of nowhere.) and made it to the prac, scored well.
Yes! *fist pump*
Then I had lunch at Wholefoods, worked for one shift, then stayed for a second because the volunteer after me couldn’t show up. Caught the bus home. Couldn’t sleep, uncomfortable seats. Tried to find something in the shops that wasn’t there. Had to buy something so I could leave. Home. Food. TV. Blog.
As you can see, my consciousness is depleting- I am falling asleep in my chair. This is the absolute last thing I do before I crawl into bed and pass out. Oh yeah, I’d better reset the alarm too or I won’t be happy.
And hi mum and dad! yes, this is what I’m getting up to. *grin*
I will never procrastinate again *cough* *cough*
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active internet users impact society
Joe’s blog has much more influence than you think [smh]
BLOGGERS and internet pundits are exerting a “disproportionately large influence” on society, a report by technology researchers says.
An interesting article on user participation on the internet. The vast majority (more than half) do not contribute at all, are passive users who just read content. About 23 percent only contribute when prompted- like the comments on a blog. The remainder, a very small section of the internet community, contributes actively through forums, blogging and other web mediums.
This small group manages to impact society more than we think. They can manage to change the conversation on national and global issues. Another factor is that, even though most bloggers write for a small audience, Google makes it possible for grassroots activists to hit the global conscience.
As part of this active contributer society, I am excited about the possibilities, but also am mindful of the responsibility that we have.
Definitly worth the read!
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musings on digital photography part one
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it’s queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there’s some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Robert Frost
I like Frost’s poems. Though it might be a long stretch to identify it to digital photography, I think it does have some relation.
This post is not about to relive 11th grade English Literature class, where our teacher got us to pull all sorts of meanings out of poetry. Poetry is poetry- it breathes.
I have redescovered the joy of snapping photos, and with a digital camera I never have to worry about film (or cost). However, going through these photos, sorting them, naming them meaningful names and making resized copies for the web is a huge task. This reminds me of the refrain:
“And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
I have found some tools that make this task easier.
- Software
- Seashore I have mentioned this program before,
it is basically a fork of the Gimp for Mac, however it is
very simple. Brilliant two step solution to resizing
images. - Preview this is a little program used to
display images, pdfs, pretty much anything. - Terminal there is power in the command line!
Much more than with a regular application. Just remember
to man (manual) *command* – mv is one I’ll use a
lot. I’ll cover the joys of the terminal in another
aritcle, meanwhile, have a look at
this bash link
- Seashore I have mentioned this program before,
- Tricks and Tips
- Organize your photos- either into folders named
the date you dumped them off the camera, for sporadic
photos, and event named folders for a larger number of
photos. - Open the images at once by highlighting them in
finder and left clicking (control click) and choosing to
open with preview. You will then be able to “Page Down”
through all your photos- seeing a smaller images at the
side and the larger, selected image. - Drag Click on the smaller side image, then drag
it to your dock, to the Seashore icon to open the image
in seashore. - Open up Seashore and any other program before
you start.
- Organize your photos- either into folders named
- Hardware
- A Pen Mouse is so much more comfortable to use,
of course this is optional. Mine is a Wacom. - Learn the Keyboard shortcuts I can’t emphasise
this enough- these really speed you up. Things like
apple-S to save, and shift-apple-S to save as. Apple-W
to close a window.
- A Pen Mouse is so much more comfortable to use,
I like Flickr for sharing photos, but it takes a while to upload photos one by one, I’ll have a look at uploading tools.
Digital photography can be like a wood on a snowy night, beautiful and fun, but there are still miles to go…
More musings to come.
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Our Education is not for Profit!
I went to my first rally/march/protest today, for the National Day of Action.
I even was on TV- if you were quick, you might have seen me in the powder blue t-shirt, helping to hold the black banner, at the front of the march. It was on the ABC seven o’clock news. So there we are- my 4 1/2 seconds worth of fame.
So, what were we protesting?
Basically, against student poverty. We want:
- Youth Allowance to be at or above the poverty line, not bellow it
- The age of independance to be 18, not 25. Because you are classed an adult everywhere else in society, except where it comes to the government paying you.
- Rent Assistence for AusStudy recipients. Being over 25 and studying is worse off than being under 25 and studying.
- Public Transport Concession Cards for International Students. because they are students too- and though it might seem like they are “rolling in it” because they are able to pay for their degree, they still live on similar budgets to the rest of us.
- No GST on Textbooks Not only are they crazily expensive, but with this extra on top, the government is profiting where it shouldn’t be.
- Adequate funding for Student Organizations. Voluntary Student Unionism (VSU) may seem like a good thing, with students appreciating the extra cash they have around, but in reality it will mean that most of the services might disapear under a lack of funding.
I’m not going to discuss VSU, as you can read enough rants about it elsewhere.
Some liberals tried to make it a violent confrontation, but the police did a good job and kept the raving loonies away from the larger group of protestors. I’d like to publically say well done, to the Police, for keeping it orderly and keeping the traffic at bay. Even though it might seem like the students dislike the police force, they are in debt to them.
It felt good to stand up for what I think is right, and let the government know what we think- and I got a free t-shirt out of it as well. (no, that wasn’t my only incentive).
A fair deal for students is what we ask for. Because we have the right to prepare ourselves to be the future for Australia.
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menu bar works
So I finally worked out how to make a menu bar at the top of the page.
I’ve moved the links(freewheelers, tools etc) onto their own separate page, because the side bar was just getting too long.
I’m thinking of hacking bblog’s interface to let me include a description, so that I can write meaningful blurbs for the links and other stuff. This might include scary MySQL stuff, so yeah. Don’t hold your breath.
I am looking at also extending my range of pages- grouping all the best posts/howtos together, so they don’t get lost. Other section ideas are lurking in the back of my head, and now I have the framework, I am free to add them as they are ready. I also worked out how to get the theme of the page on all of them- I cheated and copied the archive’s page, and then modified it to my needs. I will be writting a simple howto (bblog) tutorial real soon, so look out for it if you’re a bblogger.
As always, please let me know what you think- are the style/colours ok? Where do you want this site to go?
Drop a comment in the box!
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tweaking
What do you think of the different colours- I know that they aren’t too many major differences. However, if something is unreadable or painful to the eyes/fashion-sense then please drop a comment in the box. Oh- and what do you think of the background image? (simply executed by putting, in the css file: background: url(background.png); )
I’m still messing with it, but that’s enough fiddling with hotpink for the night. 
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surviving monash
This is a list of little things, thought to be obvious, that I found out though trial and error.
- Getting to South One lecture theatre- from the campus centre or around there. Do not go through the Menzies building- go around it to the right. You will get there much faster.
- Getting into building 19 the computer science labs: The Hargrave Andrew Library is your landmark. 19 is long and skinny, and it can be tough to find your way into the building. Find the Hargrave Andrew, and then stand between 19 and the corner of the library. Face 19- There is a regular door- this has no entry for students. hidden behind a pillar and some plants, opposite a red stripe on the side of the library, is a sliding door. Go in, and then to your right, closer to the other side of the building is a double door, go in and up the stairs or down the hall to find your lab.
- Wholefoods has cheap coffee everywhere else and you will be ripped off.
- Choc Rasberry/choc berry muffins taste really good, and are really good value for money.
Those are the ones off the top of my head.
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mozilla mosaic confusion
“Netscape is based on Mozilla. ”
“you don’t want to use Mozilla- it’s so old, that Netscape was based off it”
Have you ever read quotes such as these, and wondered which planet the authour was from?
The confusion arrises from the phonetic similarity of Mosaic, the grandpa of all browsers, and Mozilla, the company behind firefox and thunderbird, the new kids on the block.
Mosaic was cool in it’s time, even revolutionary, but it has since been forgotten to history. So people, when they hear MOZilla, start thinking: “moz.. mos.. mos-somithing.” and thus assume that Mozilla is Mosaic, that crusty old browser, because they can’t quite remember.
The reality is that Netscape followed on from Mosaic, and Mozilla followed on from Netscape, and Firefox, Camino and SeaMonkey from Mozilla.
So please remember, Mosaic != Mozilla, Mosaic is the old one, Mozilla is the new one.
Handy Weblinks:
mozilla.org
get firefox