24November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
I’m putting to sea for a week or so. Incommunicado as from Monday and very much looking forward to it. I’m taking a raft of books and as much music as my techno-wizzy-phone can handle. I’m returning to Gibraltar on Monday which fills me with a total lack of excitement but then sailing out the next morning round the coast of Morocco. If you live in Tangiers keep an eye out for a big ship with lots of sails. I’ll be the chap at the back the colour of algae. I have been tasked with trying to catch scurvy and filming a modern day version of ‘Rio’ by DuranDuran. WARNING: Those of a sensitive disposition should not click the link - its a bit racy! Also Simon Le Bon doesn’t wear a life jacket at any point which is simply bad practice.
See you in a week or so…
22November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Family & Friends; House; Travel & Leisure.
Its Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. today so I guess I’ll join with the thousands of other bloggers in mentioning what I’m giving thanks for in 2007, in no particular order.
The New Passions - Sailing & Mountain Biking
Brothers who give me a lift at the end of a long trip/day
The ability to fly the world over
The house in which I live and the people I share it with
Log fires on dark winter nights
Things that give me hope because they don’t sell out.
19November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source.
I haven’t attended WYLUG for quite a while due to holidays and other things outside of my control. I was particularly fed up this month as an XO from OLPC was being demonstrated. So I did the next best thing and caught a google tech talk on the topic by Ivan Krstic, OLPC chief security adviser. I’m still not sold on the idea and I taught IT in africa for a while but the technical aspects were certainly interesting. How to stop viruses running on the machine for example? You don’t. You just make sure each application runs in its own virtual machine sandbox so any compromised program can’t infect any others. How do you save on battery power? By making the machine suspend every few seconds if it hasn’t been used and utilise a hardware frame buffer to hold the display contents. “Ah”, I hear you say, “but then the famous OLPC mesh networking won’t operate!” Not true, you see the wireless chip has its own ARM processor which stays active and holds the routing tables.
The project have just launched a buy-one-give-one scheme in North America and I would love to get one to see what some young troublemakers I know think of it.
12November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source.
Fedora 8 landed whilst I was in Oz and I’ve just got round to installing it. I’m not drinking the Kool Aid - it is beautiful. Here’s the reasons:
- For the first time ever my Atheros-based wifi card works out of the box. Huge, massive, super thanks to the madwifi guys for their awesome work in reverse-engineering this beast.
- Java is included thanks to the IcedTea project.
- Codeina/Codec Buddy installs the mp3 decoder in a snap - a necessary evil. I wish I had the time to re-rip everything to ogg but I’m afraid I don’t.
- The look and feel is clean and crisp - the desktop background even changes colour subtly depending on the time of day.
There is plenty more of course but with the exception of the last point it all leads to less time configuring the system on first install, fewer packages from external repositories - its all good. I know there are probably hundreds of “OMG, F8 FTW!!!!” posts around but its great to see the impressive things that have been done since the last release, this being my second version where I have been following development from the opening of CVS to release.
12November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Farewells are a necessary evil but I keep them as short as possible. Having been through a few of them in the past few days I’m glad they are over. Of course, the farewells tend to get balanced out by re-unions at the other end and few of them were more welcome than the sight of my youngest brother waiting at the airport at 6:30am to pick me up after 20-odd hours of long-haul. Paul wins the 2007 Can’t Stop Fiddling Altruism award.
Of course, one of the many questions people ask on returning is “So, where next?”. I’m happy to report I’m sailing from Gibraltar to the Canary islands on board the tall ship Stavros S. Niarchos in two weeks time, subject to confirmation by the organisation running it, The Tall Ships Youth Trust.
10November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
I bade farewell to Sydney with Flic down at Mrs Macquaries Chair, washed my hands on the Pacific and then headed for the airport. I arrived through customs to find a flight attendant doing a good headless-chicken impersonation shouting “Last Call for Etihad to Abu Dhabi” which can usually be translated as “Its leaving in a bit.” True to form we sat around for 20 minutes before pushing back from the gate at Kingsford-Smith.
14 hours later and Abu Dhabi once again emerged out of the inky blackness - its just gone midnight here and as I went to buy a coffee in $AUD at the airport’s costa coffee the till crashed, much to my amusement. I stopped smiling when I calculated how much the coffee had cost after the exchange rate calcs.
Finally saw Transformers on the plane and it wins the prestigious Golden Dungheap award for 2007 for being by far and away the worst film so far. Shocking acting, atrocious plot, product placement advertising so overt it was almost a 2 hour commercial. I have lost total respect for Optimus Prime - he’s a sellout. I feel like I’ve been decepti-conned! The Simpsons movie on the other hand was excellent, though I think some of the voice actors may be past it.
Anyway, according to my body clock its something like 50:96pm on the 80th day of April 2012 so I’m going to see if I can perform some ablutions in some good old desalinated water to try and correct matters. Crazy people even drink carrot juice…
9November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
There is a chocolate shop just round the corner from where Flic lives and the madam that runs it is truly the purveyor of doucets and sweetmeats. Espresso coffee and orange peel chocolates at Bondi - not half bad.
A couple of decades ago someone decided to create a replica of James Cook’s Endeavour - the replica seems faithful enough though I doubt he had to put up with his crew’s nokia ringtone breaking the briny silence at random intervals. I toured round and came out with a new appreciation for 150 years of evolution in marine lavatories. I then walked across the city to Circular Quay, remembered I’d forgotten by bag at the Endeavour and walked back again. Then caught the train back to Circular Quay.
When I lived here I commuted across the harbour bridge and considered it possibly the best commute of any white collar worker in the world. I was wrong. The ferry to Manly is used perhaps more by commuters than tourists and wins hands down over a quick rattle across “The Old Coat Hanger”. There is even a brief nod to the Tasman Sea as you pass the entrance to Port Jackson and feel but a brief hint of the full force of the South Pacific.
The Sculpture by the Sea festival is on display - over 100 works of art positioned all over the Bondi - Tamarama ocean walk. My favourite is probably the huge plaster slapped on a patch of grass overlooking Bondi called She’ll Be Right - “Man’s attempt to use band-aid solutions to the growing environmental crisis”. Speaking of which Australia is still miles ahead of the U.K. in recycling - shame on you Britain.
A few old friends over this evening and then tomorrow is the last morning in Sydney before I’m pidgeon-holed into a big aluminium tube for the trip home.
6November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Sydney re-reloaded. Flic has got a swish pad in Bondi where I’m typing this from, although she does still have a Mac. I gambled and lost on the Melbourne Cup - where were you Dolphin Jo - and fell asleep on the flight back to Sydney where a racy redhead picked me up from the gate. Dinner last night on King Street and a movie about Jesse James getting shot. Not great, very slow, would rather have seen the one about Laos bombs (Bomb Harvest) which was also showing. No matter.
Woken up with tea this morning so am being well looked after. I’m off to tread some serious miles around this wonderful city I once called home.
6November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
Rob and Karen are now Mr & Mrs Brangwin and I smell of fish. The two are not related.
The ceremony went off pretty much without a hitch. A bridesmaid’s fiance broke their arm the morning of the big day but other than that it all went off on time and to plan. Karen looked fantastic, people were kind enough to laugh at my speech and most people got suitably trashed afterwards. Photos of the happy couple to follow shortly.
Since the big day things have become even more relaxed, though I didn’t think that was possible. Yesterday the remaining people headed out into the Tasman Sea to do a bit of whale-watching, specifically humpback whales on their southern migration. One whale was sighted being very energetic but disappeared as we approached. On out return we were joined by some common dolphins, very highly strung animals that die in captivity. Afterwards Rob and I rode some sweet singletrack in the rainforest. I rode a purish 23″ Giant which sealed my mind on frame size when it comes to my next bike purchase - 23″ rocks.
Today is Melbourne Cup day with The Race That Stops The Nation. Prior to this however we have been to Coffs Harbour Pet Porpoise Pool - see below. I was jumped on by a lovely New Zealand Fur Seal called Lucy, saved from fishing nets and blind in one eye from a fishing hook. Anyway, I’m off to have a flutter on some fine phillies but will blast off shortly afterwards as today I return to dear old Sydney.
Lucy and me at the Pet Porpoise Pool
2November2007
Posted by Christopher under: Travel & Leisure.
The wedding day dawns and I’m stood in a newsagents looking at packets of cigarettes. I dont smoke but I’m fascinated as they’ve gone one step further than the brits and have pictures on. So if you reach for your packet of Peter Jacksons during the ’smoke-em-if-ya-got-em’ break then you’re reminded of what your lungs look like at the same time as being told you should be dead by the time you’ve finished reading the government health warning.
Yesterday’s rehearsal at the rainforest retreat was good fun. The location is amazing and a complete contrast to the last wedding I attended at a castle in Devon. The speech is typed and tasteful. Again, I’ll put up the thing in full tomorrow. Maybe. Its overcast and we’re all hoping for it to stay that way as yesterday it bucketed down in the way it only can here. The retreat is a way out of Coffs and there is a ford to be crossed shortly before arrival. Everyone is travelling up in buses so hopefully we’ll all get across. God willing and the creek don’t rise.
