• ANU's page on the machine
• The ACS on the coat tails of the Gordon Bell back-for-the-buck award announcement

Tags for this post: anu()

At what point does one say that its easier to simply measure all occurances of something than it is to develop a model which would allow you to predict (inaccurately) what would happen if you did perform such a measurement?

Tags for this post: blather()

"Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed nation, according to a report from several US charities.The report found that the US ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy despite spending more on health care per person than any other country.Overall, the American Human Development Report ranked the world's richest country 12th for human development."

Tags for this post: blather()

Awesome. What more could you want than Windows 3.1 on your Internet tablet?

Awesome ad campaign where people perform criminal acts, with the tag line "Well, at least he drives a PRIUS". Funny.

I know people who live in San Francisco who have been asked to sign the petition naming the sewerage treatment plant in SF after George W Bush. I would think this measure has a reasonable chance of getting passed now that its on the ballot.

Tags for this post: blather()

Have I mentioned that my sister in law is Australia's fastest rubiks cube solver? She's very good -- I can nearly solve the first to layers of the cube after only a few hours of tuition!

Canberra has a problem with not enough people using the bus network. That's probably because various governments over the years have cut back the service to the point where its kind of useless. I have a bus option to the city every 30 minutes on a weekday morning, but have to wait an hour for a bus on the weekend to get to the closest town center. I think Stanhope is on the right track by examining pricing for the bus system, but he also needs to roll out a more useful network as well. Oh, and light rail would be nice too. kthxbye.

A graph of the number of unique prefixes in the IPv6 BGP "cloud". This is a measure of the number of networks currently using IPv6.

I hadn't heard the term DFZ (Default Free Zone) until recently, and today decided it was time to find a good definition. I think this one is as good as any, and its an interesting read.

I dream of one day eating at that most remarkable of dining establishments: "translate server error".

Tags for this post: blather()

Want to be involved with a Mythbusters shoot and can get yourself to the Bay Area? Read this.

An interesting New York Times article by a ghost writer -- a person who writes books that other people take most of the credit for. I guess people feel uncomfortable with this sort of thing because it feels intellectually dishonest, but then again, there are lots of other examples of places where the person at the front of the stage isn't the major contributor. Examples I can think of include acting on stage (there are dozens of other people involved), or race car driving (where the engineers to build and maintain the cars a vital, but never discussed). An interesting read.

Tags for this post: blather()

Thank god that Big Brother is finally being cancelled in Australia. Hopefully this will free up some air time for shows which aren't 100% terrible.

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"Some sources further this argument by asserting that The Stars, Like Dust takes place about one thousand years following the events of Robots and Empire."

Tags for this post: book() Isaac_Asimov()

It would be a shame to see the current run of awesomeness end at Top Gear. It seems fair to me to pay the presenters the same amount of money given how much the BBC is making off the series. I wonder if The Telegraph is a reliable source on such matters? Its always hard to tell with British papers...

Tags for this post: blather()

import httplib
import urllib2

class HTTP10Connection(httplib.HTTPConnection):
  """HTTP10Connection -- a HTTP connection which is forced to ask for HTTP
     1.0
  """

  _http_vsn_str = 'HTTP/1.0'


class HTTP10Handler(urllib2.HTTPHandler):
  """HTTP10Handler -- don't use HTTP 1.1"""

  def http_open(self, req):
    return self.do_open(HTTP10Connection, req)

// ...

  request = urllib2.Request(feed)
  request.add_header('User-Agent', 'mythingie')
  opener = urllib2.build_opener(HTTP10Handler())
  
  remote = opener.open(request)
  content = remote.readlines()
  remote.close()

Tags for this post: python()

Its interesting to see that photoshopping news photos for effect isn't just reserved for Hollywood articles I don't care about. Its good to see people doing it get caught.

I wonder what percentage of Australian freight uses the rail network, and if rail is cost effective per tonne compared with trucking. Perhaps its finally time to spend some money on a more modern rail network between the major cities?

I just hit this bug with a python app that is trying to read a new site in Australia. Its quite annoying, and seems to be because of a server bug. Then again, it seems like urllib2 is quite vulnerable to remote servers causing it to throw an exception. Annoying.

Tags for this post: blather()

Awesome. Canberra has needed something better than buses between the towncenters for a while, and light rail seems like a great way to do it. I much prefer trains to buses, and catch a light rail service to work every day when I am in Mountain View.

It seems that US Airways is going out of its way to not be an attractive travel option. Have airlines really forgotten that things like a free coke and a movie during a five hour flight are there to help you pick their airline, and not just another opportunity for the airline to scrape up another two dollars? Look at Virgin America for example -- people pick them because of the great in flight entertainment, and then look at the price. The last two Virgin America flights I have been on have been full.

Its a shame that the N800 doesn't have a cell phone in it. That would make this a lot more useful than just a internet tablet with a fancy web browser. I guess if you want to start developing for android its worth a look though.

Tee hee hee. Admit it, we've all wanted to taze the slow exiters in front of us who have never seen a plane before.

Simon Rumble has a pretty thin skin for someone who is happy to blog about how other people's blogs are "crap". Its odd given his previous statements that he likes the slightly irrelevant things he finds on planets that he feels the urge to then critise people for those same irrelevant things he used to like. Surely he could have mentioned his filtered RSS feed without making value judgements about what others chose to put on their sites?

Hearing about the pope's trip to Sydney next week and the pain it will cause for people working in the CBD made me remember this game that a friend wrote for me a few years ago. Perhaps it will cheer up someone in Sydney.

Tags for this post: blather()