Philosophy from the amusing puppet guru PuppetJi. There are a number of good clips but I love this one one Attachment vs. Non-Attachment – a cautionary tale in becoming too fixed in our ways including becoming too attached to non-attachment.
linkage: more clips via youtube
I have updated the European 2008 Psytrance festival guide with more great festivals. If you love psytrance and are in Europe or have the funds to get there – see if you can’t get along to some of these for me as it doesn’t look like I’ll be making this years summer festival season.
Flashearth – A browser mashup using flash to display all the major mapping sites satellite photos
2007 Spring Anime Releases – Reviews of the latest anime releases
Permanently Activated Vista Torrent – Download this via Piratebay.com
Scrybe – Ajax web 2.0 personal organizer application to rule them all (Closed Beta)
Forms of Symmetry – Mathematical sculptures
Feel – Seating system
Call Center – A short film
Well life is hectic. Well work life is hectic – and the rest of the time is spent recovering. The AD migration project I am working on went in deploy phase last week so I’ve been busy. More work than I would really like to be doing, but at least I am motivated work-wise. Corporate life is still shitty, but the learning is making up for it.
Our Carrom challenge is well under way. The inaugural ‘Best of 100′ challenge series has begun. You really should find yourself a board…
Check out these amazing Burning Man pics. Some serious deco artists creating large scale installations.
Have you seen the screensavers in Vista? Here is a shot of the bubbles. Not very secretive but nice eye candy. I like the recursive feel of the shot too.
I have been playing about with Hamachi and UltraVNC. Hamachi is a VPN over Internet app that is pretty useful alongside some remote control software like VNC. You create or join a virtual network, and then use VNC to remote control the pc sitting on the other side of the world. Handy stuff. Especially if your mum also describes you as ‘works with computers’ and you have friends or family who sometimes need a little tech support.
To this end I have started creating a scripted install for each app that I plan on mashing into an auto-install package that I can send someone and have their pc remote controllable in a a matter of minutes. I have been using a Windoze scripting tool called AutoIT. It took a little playing about [rather than reading all the documentation], some head scratching, and scanning of some examples to come up with a script for Hamach. UltraVNC’s next.
After nearly toasting my registry [i don't think I've ever backed it up before hacking it] trying to ‘reset’ Vista to run the Hamachi install script for the n’th time I decided it was well time I started getting into the world of virtual computing. VMWare have their VMWare server software available for free download. An offer that actually isn’t too good to be true. I created a virtual machine using the same TinyXP customised boot disc that I blew my drive away with last year. This time in the virtual world – no hard disks to wipe. And presto a test XP installation. Just take a snapshot, run the script to test the Hamachi install, restore the snapshot and reset the test pc to default state. Ahh it’s great stuff. No. Seriously. Techos are so misunderstood.
Today I also downloaded PortableApps Suite. All your open source apps, on one USB drive. Carry it with you anywhere, ‘borrow’ a usb slot and fire up the start menu to access all your favorite apps, set up exactly the way you like! So far it looks excellent. More on that later
All is well. Vancouver is cool. Damp but. The Gal is awesome. And generally life is good.
Miss you all.
So it has been a while. I think I have been busy. I know I’ve been busy at work. It is pretty full on. All this crazy learning stuff. Makes me hungry. Apparently the brain uses a lot more ‘food’ when you are forced to take it up a gear. I’ve been working on joining a Canadian network to a US one. Big project, and lots to learn. Active Directory domain migration.
Outside of work, I’ve spent a lot of time in front of this pc for a number of reasons. I’ve been playing with all sorts of customised windows versions, trying to get them to work. I’ve accidentally wiped 3 partitions on my storage disk, loosing a lot of digital photos and all my software installs. Ouch. I’ve filtered gigabytes of music and categorised them for easy playback. I’ve been hitting bit torrent hard and maxing out my 60 GB traffic limit. Watched a number of good tv episodes.
I’ve been investigating virtual dj software and decided that the technology is mature enough to start using. I’ve recorded a demo cd of a psytrance mix and sent it off to some party organisers but haven’t heard anything (if you want to listen to an mp3 drop me an email).
I’ve spent even more time researching the hell out of laptops. Actually mobile desktops to be precise. It has taken a few months. The time it took to get a refund for the projector that we returned. Anyway the laptop arrived today. I haven’t opened it yet. It is sitting in the corner. Lurking. I’ll take some pics and post the specs n stuff for any techos who might care.
So little time to blog.
More to come.
One of the hazards of getting immersed in high tech culture is the inevitability of it permeating further and further into your life. It is debatable as to whether this is a good thing.
Generally the less technology in your life the simpler it becomes. But what happens as the technology becomes completely integrated? What happens when it becomes so transparent that it actually starts making your life easier?
We are [slowly] approaching that transitional period I believe. Miniaturisation is rampant meaning that more and more things will have computers in them rather than standard old school ‘dumb’ electronics components. Technologies are converging. Multi-purpose devices are becoming common place in the West and are marketed as affordable and desirable to the swollen middle class.
The time of always on and connected is approaching. What will it mean for our society when boundaries of physical space are made irrelevant by instant communication with anyone, anywhere? Will we develop a hive mind? Will we bypass government and nationalistic controls and form a truly united global community? Will we start dumbing ourselves down as information becomes instantly available to answer our any question? Will we forget all we have learned? Is that necessarily a bad thing? Will we be able to leave our corporeal form behind entirely and exist in the websphere in our lifetimes? Could that be a form of enlightenment?
So many questions.
The change in life pace has been intense. For the better part of a year now I have been living (and thinking) in slow time. This is the pace of real life. It is sedate and unhurried. It is peaceful and meditative. In slow time you are alive and fully aware of your surroundings. You are easily able to slip into present moment awareness.
I think I may have mentioned this recently. Now I have the photo to show you what I mean. Vancouver’s central city residents have a habit of digging up the council’s grass edging a turning it into a garden. So lovely to see. It sure beats all this wasted water to keep lawns immaculate. click here for photoblog
Ah what a great weekend. They all seem so much more relevant once you are working. It seems that no matter how much you anticipate a weekend when you are not working, it never quite manages to reach the same level of relaxation that is obtainable when you are working.
So I relaxed in bliss this weekend after my first full week of work. I had had some early nights during the week. There was no way to avoid it. I think all that change in gears, the old grey matter going into overdrive, or at least ramping up to normal drive. With such a monumental change in environment, so many new and different places and experiences the old brain has to work hard just to keep up. All this extra processing power and energy has to come from somewhere so I guess you get extra tired. click here for rest of daily ramblings
technobabble: forests & trees, implementation, deployment, infrastructure, architecture
corporate squeak: streamlined, compliance, integrated, remediation, scope, procurement, enablement
cubicle life, look there is Dilbert! Wow sure are lots of cubicles. I don’t think I have been anywhere with this many cubicles. this is weird
escalated user account creation. why rush it isn’t like I have a computer. pen and paper. love it
slightly harried although unflapple hr. there are no desks?
cafeteria: big & bustling . there is even a veggie option or two
ah. the familiar caress of a laser printer exhaust fan, a hand-span away from mine
have I died and gone to heaven?
So the big news of last week was that I not only managed to get an interview through one of the two recruiters that I was focusing on using, but I also managed to get offered a contract. This is simultaneously the best of news and the worst of news.
It has been the better part of a year since I have had to get up on or around the crack of dawn, to go and work for the man. Consequently I am a little apprehensive at just how well my re-integration will go. I have to slip back into the persona of me “the friendly, knowledgeable, IT support person” rather than just being myself. Past experience has taught me that the best approach is to go fully undercover. Take on this alter ego role completely, otherwise things have a habit of slipping out and around the edges, and making people look at you strange.
Yes. It is now official. So you may have heard me mention how bad Greydog has been in my experience in Canada. If not I am going to recap a bit for you.
The biggest problem with Greydog seems to be that they don’t actually have any customer service. Why? They are a virtual monopoly. Even up in Canada. So like all good monopolies they do pretty much what ever the hell they feel like and this attitude filters down from the man at the top to the lowliest bus or delivery driver. I know this because I have experienced it again and again.
So there is an awful lot happening around the world at the moment isn’t there? I have been avoiding the news media in nearly every form since breaking the habit. Looking back it seemed an addiction like anything else, and one that I broke when I cut the interweb’s umbilical as the plane left Singapore bound for India.
I feel now like a news anonymous member. “It has been 10 months since I touched a news browser!”
Stumbled upon a nice photoblog site. A daily dose of imagery from Sam Javanrouh’s life.
A nice site to check on from time to time I’d say.
sample and link after the jump
So the first Friday night in the apartment. Has been a very chilled affair. The place is pretty well all put away. Most things have found a home. Still a bit of a blank canvas so I’m looking forward to putting some stuff on the walls. I was even thinking I might have a go at doing some Photoshop composites and getting them printed.
lifehacker
