Free is so good

Very excited about a new website project I'm working on.  It's going to be a really simple site, which I hope gets bought by Google for gazillion dollars.  But dreaming aside, I'm really doing this project to up my interwebz skills (part of my new year's resolution - be more nerdy).

I've hit a milestone by installing Linux on my laptop.  I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 with Apache 2.0, PHP5 and MySQL.  Its all sounding very geeky, but its really not. Its just programs with very techno savvy names.

But one thing I was very happy to discover was how much Linux and the open source community has grown over the past few years.  I've tried Linux back in 2003 and what a catastrophe that was!  CD drivers not working and crazy terminal commands to get things going.  I couldn't even get the interwebz going.  

But after installing Ubuntu and playing with it a few days, I'm convinced my next (non-gaming) computer will run Linux.  It's got alternatives to Microsoft Office and Photoshop plus all the Web Server applications which would easily total over $2000+ on a Windows system, but available all for free with Linux. Its really quite amazing.

This is probably going to keep me busy but I'll try and blog when I can.  And I'll try not not blog so much the geeky stuff.  I'll probably start a different blog for that.

:P

Cascading Style

For the past few days, I've been (and still is) obsessed with CSS.


Cascading Style Sheets.


For those not in the know....  probably best to keep it that way.  :)


CSS is very geeky nerdy stuff.  Kinda like getting obsessed with the Formatting Toolbar in Microsoft Word.

For some bizarre reason I've spent the last three days reading up and playing around with Microsoft Web Developer 2008 Express.  I'm talking about hours on end reading about it, trying tutorials and checking forums.  This obsession would match any porn or gaming obsession.  


Im even reading about this stuff at work (shhhh don't tell the boss)!


Anyways, time spent here blogging is time I'm not spending on CSS! Back to CSS quick!

Kilo to Giga

There was a time not so long ago when I was introduced to anime and I was very quickly addicted to it. 

I would wake up super early to catch Pokemon and Dragonball Z on Cheeze TV.  I had to get my anime fix or else I went mental!

Love makes you mental.  My first anime crush, Shampoo from Ranma.

I went and saw every anime at our local video store (all four of them).  After I finished that I drove to a video store 15kms away.  After I finished that I drove to ANOTHER video store 30kms away.

I was hooked (I wonder why...) and I knew I had some sort of problem.

I tried to help myself by meeting with some like-minded folks.  I went to UWA on Fridays and Curtin on Saturdays to satiate my cravings for anime.  

But I think that just made it worse.

Thankfully, through them,  I did learn about the Internet and how it can endlessly supply me with all the Japanese animation I'd  ever need.

My dad wasn't so impressed.

Imagine downloading seven 120M episodes simultaneuosly....   

..

..

..

..

..

on a 56.6k modem.

Yes that's right.  

I took over the phone line for days and weeks and was racking up huge phone bills because I had the modem on auto-reconnect when it timed out.  

Every time it re-connects it clicks 25 cents. On average it will time out about 15 times at night.  Multiply that my how many days in phone bill cycle.  

Hmm... now that I think about it, maybe I did go a bit too far.

*********

Download quota. 

That's a word that haunts me frequently.  

Last Sunday, I left the computer on for three hours and I downloaded the remaining 4Gigs of my May quota.  

So not good.  

And being shaped back to modem speeds is humbling reminder of what life back in the dial-up modem days.

So like any spoiled 28yo-teenager, I applied for additional quota today  :P

They processed it so fast, I got a confirmation approval this afternoon - happy days!

When I was completing the forms, I did reflect on a few things.  

Two years ago 12Gb was WAAAY more than enough, 

Eight months ago 25Gb was more than enough.  

But who knows? Maybe I'll eat my words when I apply for a 200Gb account next year  (No thanks to YouTube and Steam).

YouTube is a constant source of politically incorrect entertainment

************

I'm reading about the new broadband plan the government is undertaking. 

Construction starts around September this year and will initially support speeds of 100Mbytes/s.

Its really exciting stuff because theoretically, the national broadband scheme can go faster than 1Gb/s!!  And that's a direct fibre optic connection to your house which means Internet speeds will not be affected by your distance to the exchange. 

Awesome to the max!!  K-Rudd gets extra brownie points for this.

(Not that kind of brownie!) 

How fast is 1Gb/s?  That's twice the speed of a USB(2.0) file transfer!

Or imagine downloading a Blue-ray movie or PlayStation3 game in under seven minutes?  

How about a DVD movie in less than 40 seconds?

Crazy insane!!!!  

With that kind of crazy transfer rates would you bother going to the video store and worry about  dirty or scratched DVDs (some people are just ferral!!) or returning the movie or getting mauled by the ugly black dog that's always tied next to entrance? 

Just download the movie already! (Legally of course!)

And with that kind of speed, I'd run out of my 200Gb quota in less than half an hour...

...which, I guess, is not so awesome.

Geeks are People Too

We've finally finished watching Beauty and the Geek Season 4!

I really enjoyed watching this show.  I'm feeling a bit hollow now that I won't be seeing my geek friends anymore.   :(

Yes, that's right!  In the twelve or so episodes, I feel like I've connected with the geeks of this show!

Beauty and Geek is a reality TV show which pairs ten very smart but socially-defunct  guys with ten very attractive, but airhead-like young women.   

The social experiment hopes to make positive transformations of the contestants to more balanced individuals.

Jennifer the Cigar Model is quite familiar with balancing...

I've actually reviewed a previous season here.

Season Four's special twist was having a guy beauty and a girl geek!

Nicole and Metro Man Sam

I just love the show because I really do feel for the geeks.  

One of the geeks, Tony, is an Asian Biomedical Engineer. I was like - OMG its me!!!  

My girlfriend was laughing out loud when she saw him.  I think its her way of coping with the realisation that her boyfriend is a geek.   Then again, I did forewarn her that I'm a geek, trapped in a hunk's body.

In the show, I can very much relate to what makes the geeks happy,  their frustrations,  insecurities and weaknesses.  Like asking a girl to the prom or over analysing things or trying so hard and stuffing up in the end.  

And it just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when they triumph over their tribulations and inch one step closer to their goal of just being a normal guy.

But rather than bore you with episodic blow by blow and spoil the show, I'll instead share some interesting observations from the show.  

One of them is that geeks are very easy to go on power trips.  Sprinkle them with a little attention and suddenly they feel like the sun revolves around them.  

I recall a memory of my Year 7 camp.  The last night, we had a mini-disco and everyone was circling around me because I was the only guy dancing and I could do the running-man!  All eyes on me.  Imagine all that attention! 

I was glowing with pride.  I felt like I could conquer the world!  But it got to my head and for some bizarre reason, I was playing matchmaker the next day.  My dancing spectacle has apparently made me a Dr Phil.  

If I could only travel back in time and smack myself on the head.

Back to the show, my favourite moment was during the makeover episode.  

One of the geeks was going on about the price of their clothes.  Like me, the geeks were very price driven. Price over style they say.

"I can get six shirts for the same price" complains one of the geeks.  

The makeover girl returns with, 

"I dunno...   or just get one shirt and just look fabulous!"

And just like the geek, I was stunned by the simplicity and logic of the answer.  

There's so many other pearls of wisdom from the show.  But one that you should definitely take home is that if you really want to be something else, someone better, you just need to open your mind and do it.

Go the g33ks.