misc

Ghosting AKA Personal Space Invading In the Olympics

Posted by dale on May 23, 2008 in misc | 4 comments

Yesterday I posted a photo of the elusive Ghost Man of the Dandenong Ranges. Today, I am proud to announce that Ghost Man has been the catalyst for gaming greatness. Yes, that’s right, Ghost Man was the inspiration for the next Olympic sport – Ghosting or sometimes referred to as Personal Space Invading.

Earlier in the week, Australian radio personalities Hamish and Andy demonstrated this new crazy on the ROVE TV show. Have a watch and get ready to see some exciting Ghosting action in Beijing.

Have you Ghosted today?

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares – The Doughnut Kitchen Rides Again

Posted by dale on Apr 18, 2008 in misc | 4 comments

I love watching Gordon Ramsay strip away all dignity and self-esteem of chefs and restaurant owners only to rebuild them better than before with foul language and fresh food. However, I think he’d meet his match on Wellington Road, Narre Warren East. I would wager that after one round in the Doughnut Kitchen, he’d be stumbling out hollering a string of F@#$s and a nice hot head stuffed with jam.

After living in Australia for over 12 years, these mobile doughnut kitchens still intrigue me. I was a sucker last weekend and stopped at this one. Got meself a half dozen jam filled very hot doughnuts. No complaints from me!

Zenwalk Linux – Fly Free Wallpaper

Posted by dale on Feb 11, 2008 in linux, misc | 10 comments

zenwalk fly free wallpaper

Zenwalk Fly Free Wallpaper Download (3848 x 2592 px – 4GB file)

So far, I love using Zenwalk Linux 5.0. It’s a very nice lean linux distribution. I had the hankering to create a nice background for my Zenwalk box’s 20″ monitor. I started with a photo I took of some interesting clouds. To that, I added a photo of my youngest daughter jumping on the trampoline. I used the GIMP and also Wine running Photoshop CS2 to cut her away from the original background and blend in with the sky photo.

Above is a screen shot of my desktop using XFCE. Feel free to hit the link and download the large file. If you wish a smaller version, you can find it on my flickr account.

Camera: Canon 400D
Downloaded to Zenwalk with DigiKam
Edited using the GIMP and Wine with Photoshop CS2

Steal This Poem – A literary Hack, v1.3

Posted by dale on Feb 7, 2008 in linux, misc | 8 comments

This is my poem
it’s my literary hack
proof that good code is poetry.
It’s my little chance to give back.

This poem is copyleft,
you are free to distribute it, and diffuse it
dismantle it, and abuse it
reproduce it, and improve it
and use it
for your own ends
and with your own ending

This is an open source poem
Entering the public domain
Here’s the source code,
the rest remains
for you to shape, stretch and bend
add a hash bang slash if you want
share it out amongst your friends

Because I didn’t write this poem, I molded it.
picked up the lines in cyberspace and refolded it
as I was surfing on over here, Steal This Poem v1.3
rescued leftover ideas
on their way to /dev/null.
Found screwed up fragments
and put them to use
as complementary tag bits.

Because, think about it
I can’t tell you anything truly new.
There can only be few more new ideas to be thought through.
So should we treat them as rare commodities, high value oddities?
Probe the arctic reserves and other sensitive ecologies
for new ideas buried deep beneath the permafrost?
hunt them out of the cultures till the cultures are lost?
then suffocate them with patent protection?
No! we should re use and recycle them
Pile our public spaces high with ideas beyond anyone’s imagining..

So I steal a riff here and a rhyme there,
a script here and a argument there
pass them on around the net,
roll the words, add a tweak
here go on…
now don’t you feel like a supreme geek?

This poem is indebted to Linus Torvalds, Eric S. Raymond, Stephen Hawking and Richard Stallman,
This poem is indebted to all the words I’ve read and the codes I’ve known
This poem is a composite of intellect, yours and mine.
This poem is RIPPED OFF! every single slash bash and line

Because intellectual property is theft
and piracy our only defense left against the thought police.
when no thought is new
its just rewired, refined, remastered and reproduced
The revolution will be plagiarized
The revolution will not happen if our ideas are corporatised.
So STEAL THIS POEM
Take it and use it
for your own ends
and with your own ending

This poem is copyleft,
All rights are reversed