Ad Hoc

davereed: thedoghousediaries Exactly. Until we clean up our...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:54:20 +1100

thedoghousediaries

Exactly. Until we clean up our electricity production, we are still polluting.

via knightsofidledays

This whole “clean” electric car thing has bothered me for some time, but always a bit complicated to articulate. But now we have a cartoon to d that….it’s all good!

benkraal: (via mikespinelli) If I was in the market for a...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:34:12 +1100

benkraal:

(via mikespinelli)

If I was in the market for a two-tonne street-rod, I’d be right into a stripped and slammed ‘69(-ish) Mercury Cougar.

Sweet mercy who wouldn’t?!

"If I had a nephew getting his Ps I would suggest a two-speed slushbox, too. He’ll still crash,..."

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:20:45 +1100

“If I had a nephew getting his Ps I would suggest a two-speed slushbox, too. He’ll still crash, but he’ll crash slower, and learn the value of momentum.”

- Dr Ben makes funny and true.

I have two nephews just on/getting a license. One already has a sluggish auto car ready and waiting, the other may be getting my now-surplus-to-requirements sluggish auto car. This is a good way to make sure one continues to have nephews, and not bits of nephew and car wreckage scattered along the side of the road.

I received a job application from someone who lists one of their hobbies as fishing, and to sweeten...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:14:50 +1100

I received a job application from someone who lists one of their hobbies as fishing, and to sweeten the deal has reported their current personal record for largest fish caught. Tempted to give them the job just for that.

benkraal: travors: Bellen! See also the “Richard Scarry Book...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:46:06 +1100

benkraal:

travors:

Bellen!

See also the “Richard Scarry Book of the Future” from Merlin Mann’s 43Folders podcast.

Scary, true, and a significant part of the reason for my current shift in career.

"In my experience all Physics teachers are more than a little cranked. So you’ll obviously fit..."

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:58:04 +1100

“

In my experience all Physics teachers are more than a little cranked.

So you’ll obviously fit right in

”

- Dr Ben.

I just accepted a position to teach Physics and general (junior) science here from next year, which for me is gonna be fully old school bro. Farewell to a career in breaking stuff, hello to a career en-learning youngsters to science.

davereed: via klaatu While I’m not normally a fan of...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:06:00 +1100

davereed:

via klaatu

While I’m not normally a fan of internet memes…..that is SOLID GOLD right there.

Solid.

Gold.

Quiz:

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:53:48 +1100

davereed:

Q: What do the following words have in common:

line

lingerie

linen

linoleum

lining

A: Obviously, “lin”. But what’s the connection?

The Latin for the Flax plant is “linum”. Flax is used to make fabric, linen, which was originally used for mostly undergarments, hence lingerie, and apparel lining, and the thread of which could be used to mark a straight line. Linseed is oil from the flax plant, which is used to make linoleum.

What an etymologically-crazy world we live in!

Yay Flax! Maybe with a PhD in flax fibre composites I should be calling myself a Linologist.

davereed: ‘Dave’ ambigram by mattmcinerney

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:10:06 +1100

davereed:

‘Dave’ ambigram by mattmcinerney

benkraal: Singer Vehicle Design 911, via hotwheels. Friends,...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:00:43 +1000

benkraal:

Singer Vehicle Design 911, via hotwheels.

Friends, let us contemplate why this is awesome. Yes, it has 400hp and yes it’s modified up the wazoo and there’s a half cage in there and that billet filler cap in the centre of the bonnet is capital-C-cool. (That C may also stand for caricature, but let’s leave that aside for now.)

But that’s not why this is awesome. It is awesome because it is full of joy. No-one phoned in the original 911. There was no box-ticking, there were no focus groups and above all there was no half-arsed market research that showed that 15% of people thought they needed a special clock on the dashboard to time their once-a-year track day jaunt.

Look, as a general rule I’m not that crash hot on Eurothrash, but y’know, frankly GIVE ME ONE OF THESE RIGHT NOW OR I’LL EAT YOUR FAMILY.

It’s a punishingly excellent orange, and everything Dr Ben says is correct, especially his use of the term “wazoo”. That pretty much clinches the argument.

Think about it.

"Tsunami: all Aussies OK"

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:31:04 +1000

"Tsunami: all Aussies OK":

Well thank goodness for that! It’s only thousands of foreigners who are dead from the earthquake….barely newsworthy, really…don’t know why the papers are reporting this silly earthquake at all…..oooh I wonder what naughty things Kyle Sandilands did today….

My toddler’s (second) breakfast on the weekend. Choice of...

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:46:27 +1000

My toddler’s (second) breakfast on the weekend.

Choice of plate too harsh?

Woke up to this today (well…minus the Harbour...

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:08:00 +1000

Woke up to this today (well…minus the Harbour Bridge….I don’t live within view of that). The apocalypse appears to have come early to Sydney. Via smh.

And by the way....

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:00:00 +1000

(I know this is very late, but)

DO go and see: District 9.

DON’T go and see: Inglourious Basterds.

The first is great in too many ways to list. Just go see it. The second is, unsurprisingly for a Tarantino, completely full of itself and yet manages to be incredibly dull for the most part. It’s not a cooled-out version of The Dirty Dozen like you’d expect from the way it was advertised, it’s just a bunch of mostly boring sub-plots drawn out beyond the point of tedium and then artificially jammed together at the end for an absurd climax (by which point I found I couldn’t care less anyway, I just wanted it to end).

This post brought to you by Actually Having The Luxury Of Going To A Movie…..twice!…..in a month!

ROOT! at the Annandale tonight were exuding Awesome from every...

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:33:55 +1000

ROOT! at the Annandale tonight were exuding Awesome from every pore. DC Root roams the crowd (or the top of the bar) waxing his lyrical goodness. Everything you loved about TISM (well, at least lyrically) lives on in ROOT!, but the music is much tighter and rocks out like two gravel trucks colliding.

My ears hurt, but.

Life In A Small Metal Box

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:17:56 +1000

Life In A Small Metal Box:

benkraal:

Jason Whittaker in the New Matilda, on the poor state of public, and private, transport in Australian cities:

[A]s many disgruntled cabbies rightly argue (as we while away the time stuck in Sydney’s abominable traffic, the meter ticking over furiously), you can’t expect people to leave their cars in the garage if you don’t provide an effective alternative. In the Harbour City it’s hard to know what’s worse: the long, crawling car commute, or a packed, predictably late train (which you had to drive to the station to catch anyway). About three quarters of the commuting population choose the lesser of two evils and sit behind the wheel, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. You can’t really blame them.

My commute is 22km (by road). It takes me 20-35 minutes by car (travelling against traffic) and costs about $30/week in fuel. And I roll in a Discoliciously funky piece of gear with very low maintenance costs. My small metal box rocks.

If I used train and bus the commute would be minimum 1 hour each way (more like 1.5-2 after 6pm) and cost me around $50+/week in fares. And I would catch swine flu…

While it might be somewhat selfish, it’s not a hard choice to make, particularly if it gives me potentially an extra 1-2 hours per day I can spend with my kids. If I caught the train I would be leaving before they woke and returning after they were asleep pretty much every single day. No thanks.

Yes, public transport in Sydney is rubbish. We don’t need any in-depth studies to tell us that, although they can’t hurt. I mean, who knows, maybe the politicians might listen to them……

….HA! I kill me!

fro: There are times when I just can’t think. Or I need to think more. Or I’ve been thinking too...

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:55:10 +1000

fro:

There are times when I just can’t think. Or I need to think more. Or I’ve been thinking too much. It’s times like those that I go for a drive. I find it helps me find a certain sort of clarity.

I’m not sure that will work in an electric car?

Fro puts forth a compelling argument against the electric car.

For an electric car to be acceptable I would require it to play a recording of a tired and very thrashed-sounding 4-cylinder engine when in motion, and to generate a slight petrol smell in the cabin, the source of which can never be tracked down and remedied…

davereed: via peacenotwar: itssummertime: stormofgenius:...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:44:21 +1000

davereed:

via peacenotwar: itssummertime: stormofgenius: terra-bear: welldonegryffindor: cardiganweather

Awesome. We have a chart to use now.

Munt, bro! Choice modgies ey. Love em or hate em, Kiwis...

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:38:32 +1000

Munt, bro! Choice modgies ey.

Love em or hate em, Kiwis definitely know how to do tough cars.

This and the previous post have been brought to you by searching the net for pictures of KE35s to keep a 20 month old entertained/quiet.

How is it I was not aware of the Internet Movie Car Database...

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:44:51 +1000

How is it I was not aware of the Internet Movie Car Database until now??

I predict I’ll be seeking out a lot of obscure movies from the 1970s in future….