Rubénerd!

I woke up this morning to the news that Italy has a new President of the Council of Ministers (generally referred to as the Prime Minister in the Western press). I'd been wondering on The Twitters who they might get, and whether they'd have the same bad luck as the Greeks.

A split second search in the Book of Knowledge turned up this.

Monti is an international adviser to Goldman Sachs

They're not even trying any more.

Made a few wishes out in the garden, in lieu of studying for that one minute.

Given it's Binary Day #10₂ as well as being the ultimate palindrome, I took a photo and reduced it to 2 bits of colour depth. The full sized version is here, if you're interested. I think it worked surprisingly well!

Happy 11:11 11/11/11 [AEDST]!

This could count as a NaNoWriMo entry!

The beginninninninng

So I had just finished my two university exams today and was blissfully making my way to Central. I was physically exhausted from a lack of sleep of late, and my brain was fried enough to feel as though it was starting to leak out my ears, but I felt nothing could ruin my good mood!

My fortunes only seemed to get better when I arrived at platform 23, and low and behold the train to take me home was waiting there for me, its open doors inviting me in from the gentle rain. It was one of the new air conditioned units our tax dollars had paid for, and though I was forced to stand in the corner, I nevertheless was glad to be out of the muggy air into some coolness.

The train doors closed on the train (surprising though it may seen) and we were soon plunged into dark surroundings as we entered the Airport and East Hills line tunnel taking us under the city.

The first few stops were relatively uneventful. We arrived at Green Square, then Mascot without a hitch, other than perhaps one young and seemingly distracted women who somehow managed to get her skirt caught on the handrail. As someone who spends far too much of his time using his phone when he should be paying attention to where he's walking and going, I could relate. I get my skirt caught on things all the time too, it's rather embarrassing to say the least.

Hey, we aren't moving!

Upon arriving at the International Airport stop, the fun started. Sitting at stations for a few minutes at a time is part of the commuter rail experience in Sydney sometimes, but we were all starting to get a little wary when we'd been sitting there, doors open, at the station for ten minutes.

As a few people started shifting in their seats and looking out the windows in earnest, the driver came onto the PA system an announced there was a "person running on the tracks in front of us" and that we had to wait. Another ten uneventful minutes past before we were told a "person had been injured on the tracks".

One could start to see the expressions change from irritation to worry on many of the passengers' faces. Was someone injured? Were we stopped because they had their foot caught or something equally painful?

After what seemed like an age, the announcer came on the PA again, this time changing his story completely and claiming "due to electrical problems we cannot proceed" and that "there is no power in the tunnel ahead of us". Leaving the carriage and walking to stretch my legs, I took a peek into the tunnel ahead of us which seemed illuminated enough, though I surmised the lighting and catenary systems were probably independent of one another.

I read a lot of Gibraltar Earth

After a few minutes shy of an hour, the driver came back onto the PA system to announce we were moving again, albeit cautiously and slowly! His explanation changed to "the signal systems are all dead due to a lightening strike at Wolli Creek station" and that we'd essentially crawling along the tunnel blind. Excitement most thrilling!

As we started to move, I picked myself off the floor where I had slunk down to after my feet began to protest and prepared for the slow trip home. We made it as far as one more stop (the Domestic Airport station) before stopping again for another half an hour! Most amusingly, the indicator boards started informing us we were at St James, a station several stops away in the opposite direction!

When we started moving again, we'd been in the tunnel for over an hour and a half. With a trainload of bored passengers it was inevitable many would turn to their phones for entertainment, and to inform relatives and friends they'd be late, causing the entire phone network to be brought to its knees. If phone networks had knees, presumably. I attempted tweeting, SMSing and watching The Bird is The Word on YouTube dozens of times before finally giving up.

Home finally! Kinda

We arrived at Kingsgrove around 2 hours after we'd entered the tunnel, and a special train had been arranged for us to take us back to Bexley North and Bardwell Park. By that stage, all the signs along the platforms informed other passengers to expect delays, with the City Service even being rerouted through Syndenham to avoid the Airport tunnel.

Tired and drenched in rain, I made the trek home, where I plopped down in front of my computer, fell asleep for a few short moments, then had dinner and wrote a blog post containing a great deal of overly verbose and long sentences. WHEW!

Twitter, SMSs and phone calls largely didn't work while I was stuck, but thanks to @Sebasu_tan, @hanezawakirika, @leehopkins, @intoyourheadpod and @elkee for the tweets while I was trapped... despite not being able to read them until I'd surfaced!

All things considered, the CityRail staff were extremely friendly and dealt with the situation pretty well, particuclarly when we arrived at Kingsgrove and weren't sure how to interpret all the conflicting service disruption warning signs. It also could have been a lot worse, we could have been stuck in an old S or R class train in that tunnel for two hours. In this muggy weather, in a tunnel, without air conditioning, what a frightful prospect!

In any event, I'm done regaling you with my First World Problems! Time for some tea.

Now this is just too cool for words: a Starbucks branch in Singapore made from railway sleepers.

Reclaimed railroad sleepers from around South-East Asia have been used to line this wall. Where will it live next?

The store also uses LEDs for lighting, which are far nicer than those florescent tubes that buzz and make everyone look terrible.

I simply couldn't believe it when I realised, but it's been exactly one year and three days since our last Rubénerd Fun Fact! Not only that, but we're up to Fun Fact #100, an auspicious milestone if ever there was one.

So here it is, the fun fact you've waited over a year for! Brace yourself!

Ruben has written 100 fun facts, including this one.

Well, that was an anticlimax.

The reasons behind the grounding of all Qantas aircraft aren't nearly as interesting or precedent than the flaw in our transport infrastructure this whole farce has exposed.

I've been writing essays and reports all day, so in lieu of a more detailed post I'll merely say: I can haz high speed rail now?! Australia has several of the most crowded air lanes in the world; high speed rail wouldn't replace air travel, but it'd sure relieve some of the strain. Not that it'll ever happen.

In the meantime, Singapore Airlines is infinitely better anyway, as I've always said. Not that I'm biased or anything. Photo by Phillip Capper.

Since unveiling Ruby-Tan to the world early this month as the official new Rubénerd.com mascot, the outpouring of responses has been nothing short of incredible. I've had tweets from people, emails, comments on newsgroups, SMSs from people I haven't talked to in years, and even skywriting (I assume).

This latest tribute though takes the cake; Ruby-Tan now has some real fan art! From
oshibanashiori, which I just saw in The Google Readers:

Inevitably, if you’re going to have a mascot, you’re going to get fanart.

She's too cute not to draw. >w< I hope I did her justice.

Very much so!

In other news, I wish I could draw and use vector software. The last thing I designed was the logo for the site, which was a modified version of my "corporate" logo I had in primary school. Needless to say... I'm glad I'm a developer XD

I've been officially tagged in a list of questions blog post, so performing my civic duty this evening at a Starbucks in town and responding!

Worst thing you've ever eaten?

My pride, when university tutors and/or work require it.

Name your first crush/girlfriend/boyfriend

If crush refers to romantic interest, then it would be Jae Yun. Lovely Korean girl who went to my school in Singapore. If crush refers to being squished, then it would be when an elephant trod on me at a zoo in primary school. My foot go boom.

What was your worst experience with a teacher?

When my mum's new chemo treatment sent her into cardiac arrest, I took a week of school to stay by her bed side in the ICU, which prompted Ms Samuels to call me a "part time student". My year 10 computing teacher also made me use Visual Basic.

Name one thing that annoys you about the Internet

Not enough people know that The Bird is The Word.

Have you ever half-arsed a piece of homework or assignment and done really well?

Nah, I always use my full arse.

What is your earliest memory?

A 2MiB SIMM for our 486SX. I kid, my first memory was when my mum brought home my sister after she was born. I was 3.

What is something (anything) that you like that you are embarrassed to tell people about?

Cute guys, and microwaved breakfast cereal.

What is your favourite sport?

Extreme programming. To the extreme. Also badminton, though I suck.

Who is your idol and why?

I have a laundry list (many of whom inexplicably died recently) in the tech scene, but #1 is Jim Kloss from the former Whole Wheat Radio in Talkeetna, Alaska. If I turned out with even half his talent, humility, comedic flair and his sense of morals and convictions, I'd know I'm on the right track. Which reminds me, I need to post him another letter.

If you had to lose one of your senses (taste, touch, hearing, seeing, smelling), which would it be?

Sense of direction isn't one? I barely have that anyway.

Have you ever had a nosebleed?

Only in certain situations.

Why is it that I have two heads?

I am not an acting physician, neurosurgeon or biologist, so I am not qualified to answer this question.

Oh, okay then. Can I buy your TARDIS?

Nah, I use it a lot. Plus it wouldn't fit on the train.

I've now been instructed to tag other people in this list, so I nominate Senjougahara Hitagi, Kotobuki Tsumugi, Mizuno Ami, Teppelin Nia, Shigure Asa, Asahina Mikuru, Merry, Koyomi Araragi and our new official mascot Ruby-Tan. I eagerly await their responses.

If you haven't been tagged by The Georgina, I also encourage you to answer these questions on your own blog. You... you do have your own blog, right?

Being a hopeless nerd, whenever I'm on a medication of some description for an illness, I look it up on Wikipedia, the Book of Knowledge. Remind me not to have the cops give me a urine test!

The chemical diagram

I did Chemistry for my senior years of high school, and my father is a chemical scientist. Still, the most complicated diagram we ever had to draw was for polyurethane polymer chains XD.

And if you think that's complicated, check out the systematic name:

(3R,4S,5S,6R,7R,9R,11S,12R,13S,14S)-6-{[(2S,3R,4S,6R) -4-(dimethylamino)-3-hydroxy-6-methyloxan-2-yl]oxy} -14-ethyl-12,13-dihydroxy-4-{[(2R,4S,5S,6S)-5-hydroxy -4-methoxy-4,6-dimethyloxan-2-yl]oxy}-7 -methoxy-3,5,7,9,11,13-hexamethyl -1-oxacyclotetradecane-2,10-dione

Would make a great name for a band.

Japanese FTW

This is really cool, clarithromycin was developed in Japan.

Clarithromycin was invented by researchers at the Japanese drug company Taisho Pharmaceutical in the 1970s. The product emerged through efforts to develop a version of the antibiotic erythromycin that did not experience acid instability in the digestive tract, causing side effects, such as nausea and stomach ache. Taisho filed for patent protection for the drug around 1980 and subsequently introduced a branded version of its drug, called Clarith, to the Japanese market in 1991.

For this reason, I like to think the medication capsule is releasing millions of kickarse little moe soldiers to fight this illness. That reminds me, I still haven't seen Tiger and Bunny.

Cocaine... dun dun dun dun... dun ♫

But now we come to reason why I had JJ Cale as the first image on this here post thingy.

Clarithromycin may cause false positives on urine drug screens for cocaine.

Hi there Mr Police Officer, I'm on Clarithromycin. Yeah, that must be it.

Less common side-effects include headaches, hallucinations (auditory and visual), dizziness/motion sickness, rashes, alteration in senses of smell and taste, including a metallic taste that lasts the entire time one takes it.

I suppose only having everything tasting like metal is the most agreeable of those to have! Then again, I have been hearing more voices lately... what's that? You want me to sing The Bird is The Word in public? I dunno, my throat is probably still too sore for that!

For what it's worth though, I was as sick as a dog yesterday morning, but I'm already on the mend since taking this stuff. Ain't medical science great? ^_^