Cas is currently

The following got my giggle on…
GIS and Google Mapping

Poor chap. I do know how he feels.

Paul, if you’re reading this (and who knows, he might be following links back as Mata did), you are not alone. Take it from a girl who’s been bashing her head against GIS for the past four years, GIS is evil. Evil I tell you!

Now, with the scars of my own most recent brush with GIS still fresh, I am going to go watch The Warriors. The CC swears it’s a good film. It’s based on some ancient history you know. I’m dubious.

Cas is currently with a side-order of

Ok, will someone please explain to me why I am suddenly the go-to girl for all problems of a vaguely tech-like nature that my father has? The Crazy Canalman does seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that I am capable of solving every dilemma over the phone. My favourite has to be when he asked me to help him set up a wireless network across the marina. Seeing as how I am living a few hundred miles across the country, and have never set up a network in my life, I was at somewhat a loss.

Then there are the “The laptop has stopped working!” and “How do I get it talking to my mobile phone again?” questions. Once again, I’m the other side of the country. Not to mention, it’s thankfully been a few years since I was up to my elbows in Windows (*strokes her shiny mac*). The vagaries of getting an XP laptop talk to a Siemens mobile via a Belkin bluetooth dongle are thankfully a closed book to me, though the Crazy Canalman is doing his utmost to make it otherwise.

Tonight’s problem was (temporarily) solved by suggesting he check on his temporary internet files. 248 MB later, things were running slightly less like they were trapped in treacle. That, and a short lecture on the evils of cookies, and I left him loudly fuming and cursing every invention since the printing press.

Let me get one thing straight – my father is not a stupid man, nor is he an idiot when it comes to technology. He has been working at the forefront of telecommunication engineering for most of his life. We have owned computers since they first started selling them. He uses them, and some much more complex technology, each and every day at work.

So what is it about this laptop, and most of the Internet, that completely flummoxes him? Why does he have a complete blind spot about it?

Also, where along the line did being an Archaeologist qualify me to solve all his problems with the said beast? Ok, so I am a mild geek in that I can turn the bloody machines on (most times), but even I am defeated at the simplest task. Ask the CC about the absolute balls-up I made whilst trying to burn a cd last night.

I have no answers for any of the above questions, nor for why my mother (a very intelligent lady) is incapable of even turning her MacMini on without someone there to hold her hand, whilst she just has to look at the video machine and it works, and she was the only one of the five of us who could turn the Crazy Canalman’s new digital camera on last Christmas.

Grrr.

(Oh, and check out Moose’s new blog. Mwhahahahahaa. Blogs are great.)

There aren’t the words right now to describe how happy I am!! I have users on my wiki!! One of them has even made an edit!!!!!

I can’t even think of a good quote to use as a title, which is a mark of how happy I am, as is the inordinate number of exclamation marks I am using in this post!!!!!!!

And on top of that the prospect of an evening in with the CC and Dungeons & Dragons on DVD. Truly, what more does a girl need to be happy? Wikizens, a Cute Canadian, and bad movies.

I could die right now. I’d rather not, but I could.

Cas is currently

Going to Neko’s BBQ with the CC last night would have been worth it if all that had happened was the following – Spooky, being the absolute genius that he is, telling me about the following site he’d discovered in his rambles around the Interweb: An Appraisal of the Utility of a Chocolate Teapot.

As it was, that wasn’t the only fun we had at the BBQ, though it was slightly lower key than the one back in May, mainly due to the frantic deadlines we are all facing right now.

Also, two site updates. New people and minor reorganisation of the blogs/sites linked to in the sidebar is one of them. The second? Well, if you guess right, I’ll tell you so.

Cas is currently

Ok, it’s been a day or so since I blogged, and actually over a week since I last cleared out my ‘Random’ folder, so be prepared for a long post. Before you ask, the reason you don’t get lots of shorter ‘saw this and thought you might like’ posts during the week is that, as a rule, I write my posts on my computer in the lab. The bookmark folder on that computer is sadly not able to talk to the one on my powerbook, which has causes no end of hassle I won’t go into now. Also, I like to keep things in reserve in the event that I have no idea what to blog about. Today is one of those days. For some reason, blogging about the good stuff just doesn’t seem as funny as moaning about the bad stuff.

Either way, on with the show. All the NYT stuff is marked with an ‘*’ so you know which ones need the login. It’s free, but if you’re cookies just got wiped as mine seem to have, it is a bit annoying if you are unprepared.

* Downloadable Book – author Warren Adler is making his next novel available for download, free. Go him!

Adventures of iGuy – the iGuy iPod case gets up to all sorts of shenanigans (which is a word my spellchecker on TextEdit recognised! :O Still haven’t taught it that proper english spelling rarely uses ‘Z’ though.).

A selection of the best of the rest in the ongoing Intelligent Design vs Darwinism debacle.
ID vs Darwin prt 1 – the NYT/IHT spin on things.
The Panda’s Thumb – well researched sillyness.
Evolution at Berkley – a clear and well thought out site explaining both sides of things, and how best to teach it, as according to those clever people at Berkley.
Institute for Creation Research – makes me uncomfortable even linking to these people (damn not being able to assign value to linking yet), but as I’m all one for presenting both sides of the argument, go wild.
Mata with a few alternatives…

Back to the fun stuff.
Wikiwyg – Oh. My. God. I guess it helps if you understand what I’ve been researching this past year, but when this got released on Monday I got goosebumps all over. It is ridiculous to get so excited over about three lines of javascript, but I want to have this things babies! Even though I now have to rewrite an entire chapter.

EU Funding Game for Water Aid – link to a game designed by Mata. This one is all very serious and grownup, but well worth a look.

TruePower – longer lived iPod batteries. This one’s for Jeff, who’s iPod is just a teeny bit older than mine (2nd Gen, so we’re cooler than all the people who only got one because they became fashionable and mainstream), and can no longer make it through a day in the lab without some help.

Sushi gadget – I came late in life to the joys of Sushi, but they do say there’s no zealot like a convert. Not sure I want this machine though. Isn’t half the fun making it yourself with the little mat and stuff?

iTrip for the iPod – more shiny gadgetry. I’ve had a iTrip clone (mines an iRock) pretty much since I got the iPod so that I could listen to music in the car. Sadly, the Crazy Canalman got me one from the States, where FM isn’t used so much, and it was hardwired to the frequency that in this country is used to broadcast Radio 2, so it’s never got much use. This one though, looks cooler, and can change frequencies. I want!

Google Talk – not sure if I am totally ok with the turn it looks like Google is taking toward world domination, but at least the stuff they release works, unlike the majority of the Microsoft products out there! Alas, I can’t use this because it doesn’t work on Mac’s (grr). Also not totally ok with the fact you now need to provide your AMERICAN cellphone number to get a gmail account. What about the majority of the worlds’ population that doesn’t live in the States? Or that doesn’t, you know, want to give out their cellphone number just like that? Fortunately, I have all the gmail accounts a girl could need (for now), but I might have to send myself some invites just to make sure. Anyone else want one before you need to use your phone?

Women have lower IQs than men – you wha, buh who? (inarticulate noise of surprise). Um, yep, ok. Seriously the Guardian is rapidly becoming one of my least favourite papers. Not sure why I still get the feeds for it.

Mobile Photo Printer – for all of you out there (like the CC) whose fun snaps are locked forever on their cameraphone. Then again, I normally look awful on cameraphone pictures (any picture for that matter), so no! Look away!

Evian Water Bra – nope. No idea why.

Blanket Security – this just seemed funny to me,

Army joins parade for Gay Pride – go the UK military. I totally do not agree with you, and I wish we didn’t have to have an army at all, but seeing as how we live in the real world, the least we can do is be inclusive. *waves the article at the Americans* Yep, we have Gays in the Military. So do several other countries, including Canada (apparently), and it really doesn’t cause the problems you seem to think it will cause. Get over it.

BBC to put channels on the net – go Auntie! YAY!

There has been an unprecedented level of distraction this past week. He blames me. I blame him, and he’s the man, so he’s to blame. So now, I’m off to do some much needed work. Toodles.

Cas is currently

My bed is really rather comfortable. In fact, for a bed in rented accommodation it is probably one of the best beds I have had the pleasure (and once or twice the bad judgement) to sleep on.

Which is why I felt particularly betrayed when I noticed that it had developed a squeak. It has never squeaked before. Narry a peep from it the entire year. Then, as I said, the other night just when you don’t want your bed to be squeaking it… started squeaking.

In discussion with some friends, it appears that my bed is not alone in exhibiting this phenomena. Pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to has noticed that, under certain conditions, beds start squeaking. It has to be said that this is guaranteed to happen when you are living in shared accommodation, ensuring maximum potential embarrassment.

For not only is it bad enough that your flatmates might run into you and your date looking sheepish the next morning in the kitchen. The Global Conspiracy of Bed Manufacturers (GCBM) also means that you have no chance of denying that anything happened. Everyone in the flat is aware of what was going on in what is meant to be private.

So I ask all you Bed Manufacturers out there, why do you have to do it? I am an adult, I am responsible, and I am doing nothing that is against the law. All the parties involved are consenting and ditto on the adult etc. Why do you have to set me up for such public humiliation? I know it is not a personal thing for several reasons:
1) I have never (to my knowledge) met someone who manufactures beds.
2) I have never (to my knowledge) insulted that noble profession.
3) It doesn’t just happen to me – it is a well recognised phenomena
4) I am not egotistical enough to think people go around making beds squeak at inopportune times just to piss me off.

It is because the GCBM has strong moral and ethical views on the whole out-of-wedlock subject?

Also, I am curious – how do you do it? I mean, it’s not just me who’s noticed this, so there has to be a fair few beds out there that exhibit such behaviour. Is it something to do with the natural frequency of the bed-frame?

Um, and is there anyway I can stop it?