I came across some amazing art today (via Ned Batchelder) by a Japanese bloke named Haruki Nakamura who makes incredible creations using nothing but paper. The video of the Gear Cube is very cool but I really love what he has done when re-creating the M.C Escher pieces in Cube of Lizard and Bird & Fish.
All posts by Alistair Lattimore
A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Back in the middle of September, I wrote about faulty products and customer service and followed it up with a short story about the installation problems I had with my CoolerMaster power supply. After another six weeks, I’m happy to report that I finally have a working desktop again!
Thankfully the replacement for the dead on arrival power supply only took two weeks to arrive and not 5-6 like the original replacement. Unfortunately, after plugging everything back together I received a different but equally high pitched squeal from my computer. Taking my computer to pieces component by component, it ended up being the Asus video card. It turns out that when I plugged in the faulty power supply, it some how damaged the video card.
A trip back to the computer shop to have it replaced, approximately a month in waiting and I have it back in my hot little hands. Excited that I might be getting my main computer back, I leave work a little early to go and pick it up and get home to have the same thing go wrong. To rule out something else on my end, I ask Jacob to check it on his home machine and he had the same thing happen.
First thing on Saturday morning I go back to the computer shop and tell them that the repair work wasn’t successful and ask them to expedite the replacement and they were more than happy to help me out. Just as I was about to pull into the garage, I get a phone call from the computer shop telling me that they’ve just put the video card in two different machines and it worked without fault. I was actually in disbelief but relieved at the same time – so i immediately returned to the stop to collect the video card.
Saturday afternoon, i disassembled my machine again and after putting it all back together – as certain that the sun will rise tomorrow – the video card worked without fault. A little bit of fiddling later and I had all of the computer back together and in working order again.
It was great to have the laptop available across the last few months but I’m very happy to have my main computer back as I was really beginning to miss the speed and screen real estate. Next time when I put my computer back together, I’ll be sure to be a little more thorough as it was clearly a case of PEBKAC when the video card was returned to me.
Tracking Outdoor Pet Movements
Ever wondered where you pet might go while outside, does he just laze about the house or does he prowl the neighbourhood. Apparently that question was just too much for Mr Lee, so he developed a set of utilities to solve that problem:
- CatTrack: Affix a small GPS logging device to your favourite pet and when they return home for the night – you can download the GPS data and view the path/route within Google Maps.
- CatCam: Affix a small camera to your favourite pet and actually see where they are. For those that don’t deal well with maps, you know who you are.
- CatCam Live: Affix a small camera and wifi equipment to your animal to stream their pictures live, no more waiting for your animal to return home to download the pictures taken during the day.
Travel With Chinese Girl
While checking email today, I noticed a particularly funny piece of advertising:
Travel with Chinese Girl – www.ChnLove.com – Want fantastic Chinese trip with pretty Chinese lady? Find her now!
I wonder if they have an engrish type site for advertising golden nuggets?
Ragdoll Rest & Relaxation
I’m not sure if it is unique to our ragdoll Princess or all ragdoll cats, however our one in particular will rest and or sleep in very strange places.
One specific fetish that Princess has revolves around sitting on or in a bag, of any description. Claire and I could be in any room in the house, where there are ample places for kitty to sit but if we put a bag down (plastic, paper, luggage, ..) – she will without a shadow of a doubt choose to sit on or in it instead, regardless of how comfortable it may or may not be.
Expect more super cute kitty photos to follow.