Category Archives: General

London Bomb Explosions

General, News

There have been further bomb explosions in London on Thursday 21st July.

I was initially very concerned about the event, however after hearing the news for the last three hours, it has been unequivocally confirmed that the media are sensationalising juggernauts. Channel Ten had a phone interview with someone disgussing breaking up to the minute news and he must of said the same thing 17 different ways – yet the Channel Ten anchor kept asking useless questions which the reporter clearly didn’t have the answers for. He could have had an eight second phone conversation saying:

There have been four bomb explosions in London, three in the underground and one in a bus, mirroring the bombings from the July 7th 2005. The explosions were much smaller than those that killed 56 people a fortnight ago and thankfully there have been no casualties at this stage.

Yet, he babbled on and on, reiterating the same information every different way, in a fast paced, concerned and destressed voice. That same reporter would have been sitting in the news room 30 minutes prior, relaxed and no doubt drinking a coffee. Then suddenly, he is speaking and acting as if he was part of the event and has been directly impacted by it.

It really does frustrate me, why can’t they just report the information and not sensationalise everything? They can’t because they must live by the media mantra:

If it bleeds, it leads.

Dunstan Orchard & 1976Design

Blogging, General, Internet

For the past couple of years, I’ve been regularly reading the funny, inspiring and innovative work of Dunstan Orchard. In that time, he has published some fantastic content. Some of my personal favourites are:

Well after a lot of content, plenty of interweb support for his site, skills and flair – it is coming to an end. Dunstan has chosen to say goodbye for the moment. I guess it was driven, in part, by his new job at Apple, The Girlfriend (as Dunstan likes to refer to her) and general lack of time (don’t we know that feeling).

I’ll miss reading your site Dunstan, I wish you and The Girlfriend the best of luck and hope you’ll find the time for your site again soon.

London Terrorist Bomb Attacks

General, News

Update: July 12, 10.45pm
After the sudden surge of up to the minute information that is commonly called ‘news’, the real story and figures emerge. There are now 53 people confirmed dead, still approximately 700 people injured. The Australian Foreign Affairs department has now confirmed that there are six Australians in hospital in London, two of which are still in critical condition while one of them is in intensive care. Probably not surprising, there have been serious bomb scares reported since the bombings, which caused major evacuations.

The head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair, made a comment that further attacks are ‘likely’ but the timing of such events is unknown. Exactly how is that different from the situation they were in before the latest attack happened? There have been reports various major cities around the world would be targeted in the last few months, so it isn’t like they didn’t know it was possible or likely – they simply just didn’t know when. I really don’t think the terrorists are going to put the date, time and targets on a billboard any time soon.

;\

Update: July 9 8:30am
The initial reports of six or seven explosions were inaccurate. There were four explosions, which roughly spanned a 45 minute period. Three of the explosions where in the underground and one on the bus. There are now 37 people confirmed dead and over 700 injuries. The underground has been closed until further notice, which is a precedent. Responsibility for the bombing has been claimed by a group apparently related to Al Qaeda; though they all do these days, its nearly as common as children with ADD/ADHD.

There have been multiple explosions in London. At this stage, the reports are that six or seven explosions have taken place, primarily in the underground subway except for an explosing involving a double decker bus. Early reports are confirming two fatalities and at least 90 casualties. Prime Minister Tony Blair has given a statement and has confirmed that it was a terrorist attack that was timed to coincide with the G8 summit. During his address, it was clear he has been shaken by the event.

To think they would strike directly after the series of Live8 concerts which were held to Make Poverty History and the very day after London was announced as the host for the 2012 Olympic Games. You would think the world, including the terrorists, would be happy that the well off countries are banding together to try and help the less fortunate, alas no.

If you are looking for audio/video, the ABC News Website currently has feeds of it:

Flickr also have a photo pool available.

Sickening.

Elitist Light Sockets

General

Around a month ago, we had a spate of light bulbs blow. When I say spate, I really do mean it – I’ve replaced five in the space of two weeks. I wonder if the mean life to failure of an average light bulb is reasonably consistent? If that was the case, when the apartment was built and initially fitted with, presumably the same brand bulbs – they all failed around the same time. At which point, the then resident replaced them with, presumably the same brand bulbs, do you see the pattern emerging as well?

Back on track.

The light socket where my computer is, was a right royal pain in the arse. We already had spare light bulbs so I replaced it with whatever was in the cupboard (Brand A). Flick the switch, the light doesn’t come on. A little strange, so the next day I go and buy a different set of light bulbs (Brand B), change it – still nothing. I contacted our centre management that the light socket was faulty and they wanted me to try another brand, even after I explained that I’d already put a two different bulbs into it. I obliged and replaced it with another different brand (Brand C) – sure as the sun rising, it didn’t work. I contacted management again, to which they said they would now have an electrician come out. The electrician comes, does his tests and leaves saying the socket is working perfectly. So I put in a different bulb, but from one of the previous batches (Brand A or B) again, still nothing. Tonight, we went and picked up some groceries and I bought another different brand bulb (Brand D). This time, I put it in and the goddamn thing works, I just couldn’t believe it!

So, the question has to be asked: Do we have a fancy pants elitist light socket?

Gold Coast Zorbing

General, Photos

Alistair Lattimore Zorbing at Pimpama, Gold CoastAfter we went zorbing at Pimpama (Gold Coast), I asked Dave if he could chase up the photos of our experience. It has taken a couple days for them to filter down the chain, however they have arrived and I think they came out really well!

  • Myself in the Zorb (90k)
  • The Zorbing Course (88k)
    This image you can see the main course that I rolled down. It might not look it in the picture, however the hill you are rolling down is about 120m or 130m long and probably about 20 to 30 degrees in angle as well. You’ll probably notice, on the right hand side of the image, a curved path. This is apparently one of, if not the only slalom Zorbing path in the world. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go down it as it was too windy. The bloke informed us that with the breeze blowing on our day, we’d either leave the path all together or end up in a damn right past the bottom of the hill.
  • Up close and personal with a Zorb (125k)
    This shot shows one of the Zorbs up close and you can see the guy wires I referred to in my original post.
  • The starting platform (130k)
    A zoomed in shot of the starting platform. The Zorbs are floating in a pool of water at the top to make life easier on the Zorb instructor and the Zorbanaut. It also gives a little bit better idea of how steep the hill is.