Rubenerd

My old man came back from his business trip to Singapore, and with him he brought some swag from my old haunt.

Compact flash cards

I know that icon is technically a SmartMedia card, but it was just too cool to pass up ;). I still have a MadPlayer and music player that use those cards. They're flexible. They're like the 8.5 and 5.25 inch floppy drives of the memory card world. But I digress!

I've always had an obsession with retro laptops, but their hard drives have been kicking the bucket. Fortunately they're easy enough to replace with adaptors and Compact Flash cards.

On his last trip, Mr Schade Senior was alerted to 60MB/s cards which are much faster than the existing ones I'm using. The fact they only have an 8GiB capacity is just fine given they're replacing crusty old drives that are all smaller anyway!

My Armada M300, Libretto 70CT and iBook G3 are lining up to have these cards installed :D

2TB Hitachi drives

I could regale you with tales of horror with Seagate and Western Digital drives, but (touch wood!) I've had nothing but great experience with Hitachi drives (and IBM units before Hitachi bought their storage business). They're somewhat pricier than other manufacturers, but I trust them. Holding a Hitachi and WD drive in each hand I could also swear the Hitachi was heavier too, but that could just be me.

Unfortunately higher capacity drives are still too expensive per gigabyte even in Singapore, but now I've maxed out my DIY Sim Lim Square tower and my Mac Pro with 2TB hard drives! Omnomnom!

I have rsync operating as a cron job keeping these machines syncronised, and one remaining external hard drive backs up my critical work every few weeks before I take it back offsite again. I would use a cloud backup service, but I don't trust the cloud. It's not that I don't trust them from a technical or ethical standpoint (they do good work), I flatly don't trust lawmakers. Hey, like Google and IPv6! Metered Aussie internet also kills it, as it does many other things.

In Soviet Singapore, Sim Lim Squares You

I just can't believe less than a year ago I was using a MacBook Pro as my production machine and what I dubbed my "Stonehenge" of external hard drives! Honestly, five external drives each with their own FireWire cable and power supply brick, what a mess!

Sigh, I miss Singapore. Friends. The food. The electronics. The public transport. The all week late night shopping. The ultra high speed, unmetered internet. 3G phone service everywhere. Modernity. The safe clean bubbleness. The more intangible feeling that I'm a part of a global community. Aiyo, I even miss Singlish one lah.

This post originally appeared on the Annexe.

Thai curry yum yum!!!

This post originally appeared on the Annexe.

I think this is a hint they want us to leave XD

Links shared from del.icio.us today:

search-engine-logos-main.gif (GIF Image, 400×872 pixels)

I remember most of these search engines :)

(categories: logos design search)

Evolution of Logos – Past to Present | Corporate Talk

Fascinating compilation of logos and how they've evolved!

(categories: logos design graphics)

From about 16:50 to 16:55 UTC+11, the site was down. My bad, all good now!

Instead of discussing the pertinent and real privacy and security issues surrounding IPv6, I'm saddened that I even have to write a post like this at all. I want to write about another anime I just watched, sheesh!

Say what?

In my previous post on IPv6, I lamented the fact the discussion surrounding its viability were limited to pointing out that IPv4 address space is running dangerously low. I acknowledged this to be a grave issue and that the move to IPv6 was necessary (and increasingly so!), but that I was concerned that its issues were being swept under the rug.

Unfortunately, IPv4's real shortcomings aren't the only thing blocking rational discourse on IPv6, its also in the language used by some of IPv6's proponents, and the attitude they display to people like me who have concerns.

Instead of attacking the points we make, these rude people prefer to level ad hominem attacks on our character, and use childish insults. We're blasted for being ignorant and our points stupid. There's no question such attacks are easier to perform than civilised discussion, but lowering our discourse like this doesn't help anyone, and in fact perhaps speaks to the level of confidence these people have in their own points if they can't even be brought to discuss them rationally.

Uh yeah, welcome to the net!

Part of this is part and parcel of the internet, trolls have been around for as long as two people with different opinions have had access to keyboard and too many sugary beverages. I suppose I just need to learn that there are some people you just don't want to waste your time and energy on.

Funnily enough, some of the people who levelled insults at me have since become friendly when the attacks stopped and we started talking about the tech. I guess its true what my old lecturer used to say about politicians in particular: don't you hate when politics gets in the way of this awesome stuff we've built? I'm a huge fan of finding common ground, its why my friend from uni who's an Android user and I can discuss the shortcomings of Windows Phone 7 ;).

As for my more technical IPv6 post, now that I know people are waiting in the wings to pick apart my arguments with a fine tooth comb, I'm having to take much more time writing it! Normally I write a post in an afternoon and let people comment on if I've missed things, but I can tell this will be attracting a lot of attention, much of it not positive! This wasn't what I had in mind when I started writing this more casual blog post, such discussion was only supposed to be on my work site. Oh well ;).

I don't care whether its cool or not to admit, but I hugely enjoyed Inception and have long been interested in lucid dreaming and the like, so when I read the plot summary for Yumekui Merry it was an instant follow :D

Plot Summary: Ten years ago Fujiwara noticed he had a power to see multicolored auras surrounding the person’s body. Ever since then he’s been having a weird dream about a war with cats. Then one day a mysterious girl falls on top of him…

And of course they mean that quite literally. Hey, at least they didn't use the bathtub meme :P

Aside from ones that are unabashedly moeblob (and I make no apologies for this fact) and despite being a heathen atheist bastard, I'm also a fan of anime that deal with more unconventional concepts like spirits and perceptions of reality. I'm also a huge sucker for graphics and art. Its why I found Bakemonogatari one of the freshest and most interesting series I've watched so far.

It's almost as if not being bound by the real world gives animation a free pass to be more unpredictable and tackle with issues that would be too hard to film with real actors, or ridiculously expensive to do with CGI. I could go on, but I'm not a media student and am not armed with the vocabulary nor critical expertise to discuss such matters ;).

Okay we get it, what about this series?

As a more casual watching guy, Yumeki Merry is the first second JC Staff anime I've started following, and so far I'm enjoying the art and designs. I'm a sucker for Shaft and KyoAni, so being able to appreciate another house's art is… awesome. That's a technical term, look it up.

I could tell by virtue of the fact I could barely understand the first episode that I think I'm going to enjoy it :). In the space of fourty minutes we had students going through a typical train station, giant swimming fish skeletons, dystopia and utopian scenery, huge guys that looked like the Phantom of the Opera with scary looking serrated weapon things, kick arse high octane fight scenes, and pretty much everything else in between.

We were introduced to the namesake Merī Naitomea (Merry Nightmare) in the opening scene by seeing… her navel. In another scene she walks past and we see… her navel. Another scene still and we see her belly button no less than three times. Some series sell themselves to certain otaku by having women who are particularly "well endowed" or always having opportune upskirt moments; in this case I suppose this studio are targeting the bare tummy crowd. As far as fanservice goes, this is pretty tame XD.

As I said I'm a sucker for art though, and I really love the character designs. Like Hitagi from Bakemonogatari she has purple hair which we all know is the best colour ever, and they really went overboard with her huge flowing clothes and cute matching hat which is even used as a plot device ^___^. Her shirt it patently ridiculous and her skirt far too short for someone who presumably spends much of her time defying gravity with high kicks and other fast paced fighting, but this is anime I suppose ;).

From what I've surmised so far, she's a spirit or entity who's like very much to return to the dream world (as is evidenced after she whoops some serious dream arse) but alas she's stuck in our reality. Is that the opposite of Inception?

The protagonist is an attractive, struggling writer-wannabe called Fujiwara Yumeji who has the unique ability to see the colours of people's dreams. Yes, colours of people's dreams. In the real world even until recently I'd have laughed at such assertions, but the idea that we have senses above the five we do have is deeply fascinating. His fingers turn into kaleidoscopes, and he can even perform it on himself in the mirror. Pretty trippy stuff.

I believe they're already up to episode 6, so I have some catching up to do! I'm also very impressionable when it comes to dreams, I hope mine don't start mimicking his with oddly hilarious but creepy bazooka-brandishing cats.

Been getting a lot lot LOT of Zune comment spam here lately. Weird thing is, they're posted on entries that have nothing to do with it whatsoever.

If you’re still on the fence: grab your favorite earphones, head down to a Best Buy and ask to plug them into a Zune then an iPod and see which one sounds better to you, and which interface makes you smile more. Then you’ll know which is right for you.

Well gee I'd love to, but they don't sell Zunes in either of the countries I live in, nor are there Best Buys here! I "smile" when my pockets are relieved from not carrying two separate devices for phone calls and listening to music.

The new Zune browser is surprisingly excellent, but not as great as the iPod’s. It operates nicely, but isn’t as quick as Safari, and has a clunkier interface. If you occasionally program on working with the net browser that’s not an issue, but if you’re arranging to browse the web alot from your PMP then the iPod’s bigger screen and far better browser might be crucial.

Thanks for the tip, but what does that have to do with Yui wearing socks? Are they just spraying every post they can find with their spam? I was under the impression spammers used keyword searches to attach themselves to posts that are at least vaguely relevant.

This is a very exciting post, I was looking for this knowledge on the Zune. Just so you know I located your webpage when I was browsing for blogs like mine, so please check out my site sometime and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

I would, if you left a URL! They didn't leave anything. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a blog spam comment?

Excellent submit. I learn a very important factor harder upon many different sites every day. It will always be stimulating to see content material off their copy writers and also implement a little at their Zune Marketplace. I’d intend to make usage of some using the articles on my own web site whether anyone don’t thoughts. Natually I’ll provide you with a website link with your internet website. Appreciate your expressing.

That of the comment contain much the t-shirt material right there it is.

Buildings are not very cheap and not everybody is able to buy it zune.

facepalm

In Soviet Russia, Zune doesn’t buy you

Okay I made that one up.

Are people just trying to increase the occurrence of the word on sites so when people do searches for the device they get more results? Are they just trying to spread the brown sugar around? No wait they come in other colours now, never mind.

By the way as a matter of disclosure, the originating IPs aren't from Microsoft. I wish I knew what they were.

This is something different to what I usually discuss here, but I thought it was worth a mention.

For over 12 years my mum underwent courses of chemotherapy and radiation treatment for her malignant cancer in Brisbane, Australia; Singapore; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

During that time we were with several different insurance companies and health funds, nearly all of which went out of their way to make our lives miserable, confusing and difficult with their road blocks and legal challenges either to the medications themselves or the the ways they were being administered. Ironic considering how insurance companies come down like a ton of bricks on people like you and me if we're late with a premium payment.

Anyway I've noticed people tend to share more negative experiences than positive ones, so since this weblog started I've endeavoured to help tip the balance. When a company treats me right, I like to tell people.

Of all the insurance companies we dealt with, the one that stood out for us was Bupa International who we were with for the duration of her treatment in Singapore.

From their Wikipedia page:

Bupa is a large British healthcare organisation […] a private company limited by guarantee; it has no shareholders, and any profits (after tax) are reinvested in the business.

At times they questioned the medication my mum was being prescribed, but upon receiving an explanation from my mum's acting oncologist they were nearly always prompt with payments. By insurance company standards, you can appreciate how unusual that is.

More importantly however was they displayed a level of flexibility that other insurance companies didn't, particularly with more unconventional treatments that others either blanketly refused or threw up so many legal challenges that often we'd have to pay tens of thousands out of our pockets and would only be refunded months after the fact. Suffice to say, my mum had exhausted so many treatments in the first eight years that she was on experimental treatments for the last few. The point is, they accommodated when others rarely did.

This of course is an entirely anecdotal post. It should be read as-is without warranties or guarantees. Nothing I wrote should be taken as legal or financial advice. You would be foolish at best and criminally negligent at worst to purchase a service as vital to yourself and your family as health insurance based on what some jabroni babbles on about on his weblog. I absolve myself of all liability, and by reading any of this post you agree to this. You get the idea.

What I can say is Bupa International were the only company we dealt with that treated my mum with respect and took one of the scary variables out of her treatment.

I bring all this up because I'm currently in legal wrangling with some other [areshat] insurance companies and felt compelled to highlight a mob that did a great job. And no, I was not paid for this post.

Links shared from del.icio.us today:

Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest – War Room – Salon.com

He SHOULD be arrested.

(categories: politics government unitedstates georgewbush)

Long Range ZIP | freshmeat.net

(categories: compression lossless files software foss archiving)

xz vs rzip – Rusty Russell's Coding Blog

(categories: compression lossless files software foss archiving)

Photos: Boeing 747-8JK Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

(categories: boeing748 photos aviation airliners.net)