Here I am writing this blog post on my iPhone, traveling at 200kph back to London. AND I can receive calls and browse the Internet as well. The Technology Age is full of amazing wonders! I’ve just been to Oxford. As I walked past the computing sciences section today I wondered what they used to teach there before such things were even dreamt of!
Well I wouldn’t call myself at mid-life yet, but I definitely had a crisis. This house has got a few different storage devices at the moment, including a Western Digital MyBook 1TB (it sucks, which I may explain in a future post!), a new Apple Time Capsule, 1TB, as well as a couple of other hard disks floating around.
I decided to reinstall my MacBook Pro the other day because it wouldn’t install the 10.5.3 update properly, and I had also recently installed some software which didn’t remove itself properly and tainted the system. I thought it would be a good opportunity to clean out the cobwebs. I carefully backed up my data however, due to a bug with the Western Digital MyBook which causes it to stop with a “permission denied” error and requires you to reboot it, I was having trouble backing up. The bug is so annoying that you have to carefully check what has been copied and what has not, because the only method for copying you’ve got is Samba.
Anyway the fact of the matter is, I backed up my photos carefully. The Time Capsule wasn’t in use yet, as it was new, and I decided to start doing regular Time Capsule backups AFTER the fresh Leopard install. Anyway, it was over a week ago when I performed this backup and with all the issues and what with having a new Time Capsule and all the issues with the MyBook I couldn’t remember which device I’d ended up backing up to. I was confident it was the Time Capsule because of the broken MyBook but alas, when I went looking for them tonight I couldn’t find them anywhere! After looking everywhere around on my MyBook and the Time Capsule, my heart sank. I couldn’t find my damn photos anywhere and I realised that I may have just lost 10Gb of photos and many, many months worth of snaps. I was so upset when suddenly I remembered my iPod! I had backed them up to my iPod! Oh wow, I was so relieved.
Lesson #1 - BE CAREFUL when you’re doing this kind of thing!
Lesson #2 - Get an Apple Time Capsule or an external hard drive and start using Time Capsule NOW. If you don’t you’ll regret it. We so often forget to back up and disk is cheap. When it comes to things like your photos, the couple of hundred pounds spent on backup disks is worth every penny. Nobody wants to lose their memories!
I have neglected my blog. I’ve thought about it often, and thought about how I should post but I’ve either been very busy, been traveling or tied up looking for work, which really drains you. I am happy to report that I have landed a position as a Team Leader looking after a systems support group within an eCommerce company, and I am really looking forward to starting on Wednesday. It’s going to be quite scary at first, moving into a brand new place with brand new faces, practices and products! I’m feeling fairly ambivalent about the whole thing, but that will wear off after a while. Hopefully the staff are welcoming.
I think the biggest challenge is moving into new territory as the “new boss” and having to gain a respect from your peers. The people working in this team have been working together already, and know the company better than I do. It will take some time but I intend to get to know everything as quickly as I can.
And, wow! In the mean time so much else has happened. Lindsay and I went to Paris, I visited Oxford with Justin, Col, Nick, and Amy (unfortunately Lindsay couldn’t get out of work) and it snowed. Yes, it snowed in London! Nick arrived, Justin left, and Ash visited.
Instead of linking in so many photos, here are some links to some previous galleries on Flickr!
London Snow
Oxford
Paris
I will endeavour to write more frequently, I promise 
As a child of the 1980’s I grew up with Astro Boy. The 80’s animated version that I used to watch is actually the second animated version of Astro Boy. Before animation, Astro Boy was originally released as a cartoon comic in the 1950’s which ran all the way through to the 1980s:
Here are some excerpts from within the first comic:
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During the 50s and before any animated series was even conceived, a live-action feature-length film was developed. This is really incredible to see, as the first minute and a half were animated and the rest of the film is actually filmed with human actors.
Here’s a clip showing a few bits and pieces of the live-action sequences from the series:
Here is a link to Part One, from the beginning (this clip is lengthy and really poor quality but is interesting as it shows the animated intro leading into the filmed movie.)
Astro Boy was adapted for Japanese television in the 60’s and a black and white animated series was developed. The series intro from the Japanese version in the 1960’s depicts Astro Boy flying around town, waving at a plane, tunneling through the Earth and generally having a cool time. Here’s the clip for the Japanese intro:
The US version is very different. We start seeing the version of Astro Boy most people would be familiar with: helping the good and fighting the evil and generally saving the day. The theme tune is similiar to the Japanese version although probably has very different lyrics given the different animation. Coupled with this new theme, this version has a classic 60’s retroness about it but starts to feel like Astro Boy as we know it.
Let’s take a look at that 1980’s US intro that we’re all so familiar with. The theme gets a little more funked up and the lyrics have changed, and these are the ones most people I know would be able to sing along to. Like before, the intro shows Astro Boy fighting the bad and helping and defending the good, and I think this version is a little more personable than the original versions.
During the 80’s there wasn’t much difference with the Japanese version, except that their version has slight techno beat which is present throughout the tune that isn’t there in the English version. This is about it; there really isn’t much else that is different between the two. Unfortunately I don’t know if the lyrics translate differently. If you watch them in sync, the animation is identical although you can hear that the themes are ever so slightly off between the two.
In 1999 there was talk of an Astro Boy feature film, an idea which was shelved due to other projects.
In 2003, Astro Boy was released once again as an animated series however, this time there was all new animation and of course, a new theme. The animation was specifically done so that they wouldn’t loose the original look of the characters, but were able to enhance the animation sequences and effects using modern manga-type techniques (super speedy blurry backgrounds that shoot past, and that type of thing.) I have not personally seen the series itself and I don’t know how different, or, modernised, the 2003 version of Astro Boy has become.
The Japanese version and the US version have exactly the same cartoon background with some very major differences! The Japanese version contains a theme tune (I can’t translate it) and it seems like the right way to evolutionise the theme following the current trend.
Just what have they done with the US version? No lyrics, a techno/rock theme that makes you feel like you’re playing a game of Burnout instead of watching a cartoon series. There’s a more intense, less personal feel about the whole thing. Give me the 80’s version any day.
In 2009 there will be an animated/CGI version of Astro Boy coming out as a feature film. This was picked up from 10 year prior when it was originally discussed. As yet it is in pre-production and hasn’t even got any cast or director (announced, anyway) and the only thing that has really cropped up about it so far is some concept art, so perhaps this is what Astro Boy will become…
And who knows what from there…
Well I know that nothing’s signed off yet, and the only Yahoo! service I really use is Flickr. I’m not looking forward to Microsoft owning that because I think it will all go to Hell. By the way, did you know that Flickr’s servers are Linux? Not for long!
Here’s what I think might happen in the long run…
The lovely Microsoft “Red Ring of Death” consuming Yahoo…
Just in case you can’t get enough Cop shows in your TV diet then you really should subscribe to Pay TV. It’s incredible how much trash they really do play on Pay TV as opposed to any actual quality programming (which is what I really expected to see a little more of.)
For a good example, here’s a list of all of the fly on the wall and reality style TV shows you can find in just one week of UK Pay TV!
Wow. Are you sure this isn’t enough variety? Perhaps they could put on some other reasonable television instead of the same old stuff over and over again!
Here’s a great little game on the theme of attack/defense which is a load of fun. It’s called Age Of War. The aim of the game is to defend your base and attack your opponent, ultimately defeating them and their base. Throughout the game as you earn money and experience points you evolve through the ages from the Stone age, Medieval, Colonial, Military and then on to a future age. It’s a very simple but addictive game. Along the lines of Desktop Tower Defense.
You can either play it in the browser but if you link directly to the Flash file you can stretch the game a bit wider and see the whole distance between the two bases instead of having to scroll back and forth to see what’s going on. It wasn’t designed for that size so it won’t look all that tidy!
Here’s a story which has just run regarding Heath Ledger.
This story is regarding the intentions of the American Baptist church of Westboro to rally and picket at Heath Ledger’s funeral. Why, you may ask? What did Heath Ledger do to directly offend this church? Well, nothing. Not directly anyway. Heath played a the character of a gay cowboy in the film Brokeback Mountain. No, Heath Ledger is not gay himself; he just portrayed the character of a gay cowboy in a movie, and for this, according to the Westboro Baptist Church, he deserves to be picketed with hate propaganda.
Here is an excerpt from the flyer that the Westboro church has issued regarding the picket:
“Yes. WBC will picket this pervert’s funeral, in religious protest and warning: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.” Gal. 6:7. Heath Ledger thought it was great fun defying God Al mighty and His plain word; to wit: God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers! Ergo, God hates the sordid, tacky, buckets of slime seasoned with vomit known as ‘Brokeback Mountain’ - and He hates all persons having anything whatsoever to do with it.”
Now that’s certainly preaching the word of God, isn’t it. Where in the Bible does it say that “God hates fags and fag-enablers”? Doesn’t the Bible teach that God loves all of his children, regardless of creed or culture? Regardless of whether or not they are a believer? Didn’t God create all children in his own image? Don’t we, as sinners, get a chance to repent our sins and be forgiven if that is what we so choose (and believe?) Hasn’t homosexuality been around for thousands of years?
This church completely full of narrow-mindedness and vitriol. Here are some pictures to explain.
“Fags Die. God Laughs.” What kind of message is this preaching? One of acceptance and love or one of hate and bigotry? Aren’t there churches out there (ridiculous as it may seem) who are there to HELP people be saved from their sins, including homosexuality?
This particular church is run by Fred Phelps, as pictured in the last picture. I just wonder how what goes through the minds of him and his followers and how they can be the source of so much hate in the world. I wonder, if the entire Earth took on their view, what would happen to us?
During 2005, a Swedish pastor was convicted for 30 days for preaching anti-homosexual propaganda. This is not legal in Sweden as their law allows for a high tolerance and equal rights, and after a number of complaints the law jailed him. Phelps and the church took this very personally and began to target hate propaganda towards Sweden.
The church made a number of hostile statements regarding Sweden, specifically targeting Sweden’s homosexual-friendly politics and gay rights, naming the royal family as proprietors of incest and bestiality, and went on to mock the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, a disaster which killed thousands.
I listened to some of Phelps’ 2005 Sweden sermon, and from that sermon, only a few setences in, he says:
“Thank God for Tsunami! And thank God that 2000 dead Swedes are fertilizing the ground over there! And we pose the question; how many of those 2000 do you suppose were fags and dykes!?”
Phelps goes on to abominate Swedish people simply because he’s angry that a fellow “gospel preacher” was jailed. According to Phelps all nine million Swedes are perverts, including the infants and the sucklings.
It seems that this Church, and perhaps others, can’t recognise the difference between the law and their own religion. The law is designed to protect and serve. It is not allowed to pass judgement on people’s lifestyle, it is only allowed to prevent people from performing acts that are deemed harmful to society. I can not see how the private act of a homosexual relationship between two men can be seen as harmful to society in a legal sense. I can see how it can be harmful in a religious sense, where religion promotes strong family values and male/female copulation, but still, this is contained within the religion, and other similar religions.
So what is a religion? Isn’t it a person or person’s beliefs? Aren’t we supposed to be tolerant of all religions? I’m tolerant of people who believe in God and believe in male/female family relationships; without straight couples and families the world wouldn’t survive, but humans are not going to die off simply because a portion of the population is homosexual. Life goes on!
Surely these people shouldn’t worry about how other people are living their lives and carry on living their own lives according to the Bible? If they did that, they wouldn’t waste so much of their lives preaching anti-gay and hate propaganda all over the place. I am not religious, but I believe that these people’s crime against their fellow humans is far worse than than a homosexual in the eyes of God. I find it quite ironic that they believe they are doing good for the world by preaching such hate.
I’ve wanted some good integration between my Flickr Photo Feed and Google Earth for some time now but what’s out there isn’t that awesome. I’ll discuss a few things –
# Flickr
Flick’r own KML (Google Earth) feed is good however, restricted to the last 20 photos or so, which is really awful. This means that anyone browsing your photos in Google Earth will only see a handful.
These guys provide a fantastic feed which I use all the time! Check it out. Once installed it will scan Flickr for the nearest 200 photos (sorted by most interesting) and insert little pins on the map. You can then click the pins and view the picture. This is awesome, as it means you can visit anywhere on the planet and as well as looking at the aerial view you can see all the photos people have taken of that area, too! Because it sorts by most interesting first, the further you zoom in on any one space the more you see. Every time you move around the map it updates the feed and within a few seconds Flickr photos begin appearing. It’s great! I recommend it.
http://kmlphotos.metaltoad.com/
What would be great is a version of the above that works on a single user’s feed (or group/tag/search) only!
These guys have a couple of great tools. The Trippermap Geotagger (free) will let you Geotag Flickr photos using Google Earth instead of the clunky horrible Yahoo map. Basically, when enabled, you line up the crosshair with the coordinates you want to mark a photo or photos, click the link in the bubble and it will take you to the trippermap.com page where you can update any photo. Because it uses the Flickr API there’s no need to sign up to their services or anything like that! This is the tool I use to tag my photos. I need to get myself a better GPS system
Their website offers you the ability to create your own Flash Google Map with your own photos all over it however, if you want the ability to create a Google Earth KML you need to subscribe to their Premium service (for $10). No thanks. Not for a simple KML feed!
http://loc.alize.us/ is a website that provides a fairly flexible Google Map & Flickr Mash-Up, and it’s pretty good, too. Here’s a small version which shows the map with only my photos:
Apparently this small version only shows the last 99 photos but there’s a full-sized version which is much easier to use and shows more photos.
These guys also offer a service that will let you Geotag a Flickr photo however, you need to go to Flickr first, click the photo, click a Bookmark and then find your location in the small Flash Google Maps window. It’s all a bit slow.
steeev has created a Yahoo Pipe which will create a KML of your last 500 geotagged images. All you need to do is put in your Flickr username (as NSID) and it will output a KML of your photos which you can use with Google Earth! The only problem is, of course, that it outputs a KML file that has a static list of all of your pictures, so if you install it permanently, it’s no good for new content.
You can copy the link that outputs the KML and visit it over and over again, eg. here is the link to my photo feed. Click on that any time and it should bring up a KML of the latest photos in my feed. I guess that’s one cheater’s way of doing it but the draw-back is you have to click on the link from a web browser every time.
I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has found any better tools!
So the Queen plays Nintendo Wii! Who’d have thought. The press (The People Newspaper) is apparently reporting that a royal source has said that “When Queen Elizabeth saw William playing a game on the Wii after the family lunch at her Norfolk estate, Sandringham, she thought it looked like tremendous fun and asked if she could join in.
“She played a simple 10-pin bowling game and by all accounts was a natural. It was hilarious. William was in fits of laughter. He was enormously impressed at having such a cool grandmother!
“And although she is 81-years-old, her hand-eye co-ordination was as good as somebody half her age.”
So I guess if anyone wants some tough competition, old Lizzie’s your lady.
“William loves his gadgets and boys’ toys so the Wii was the perfect present for him.
“His only difficulty now is trying to pry it away from the queen’s clutches. She showed all the signs of becoming a Nintendo addict.”
Apparently the Wii was a Christmas Present for Prince William. Well this is an open invitation to the Queen to challenge me to a game of ten pin bowling! Invite me over and we’ll have a few beers, crisps and a bit of a laugh!
Apparently the Queen is a bit of a gadget nut and even owns and iPod. Maybe we could swap some music, too I wonder what she listens to. I think perhaps the Spice Girls.
The Queen on a Nintendo Wii Buzz
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