gemsling

I just attended the most incredible 21st for a friend I haven't seen for years. (Or was it just a gathering if some kind? After all, he is now almost 32.) It started outside on a lawn near the city. Such a lovely, mild evening. Not sure why I sat apart at first: all his friends were nice, friendly and welcoming, and I was pleased when he introduced me.

Then the entertainment started, with one of his friends getting up to sing a beautiful, soulful cover of a well known song. I wish I could remember what it was; maybe Yesterday, or something of that ilk. She had unusually large, dark red lips and a deep, rich voice that lent itself to what was actually a very original arrangement of the song, not merely a clone of the version we all know. Some unexpected and foreign imagery also appeared, projected on a screen or something behind her.

I then wandered into the venue for the next part of the entertainment. It was a warehousy hall, with a stage that was deceptively deep and tall, and it featured the most amazing set - one that surely wasn't created just for this event that had a band playing. In fact, with the multiple levels and the stack of numbered, old-style trunks at the back, it could have just been a storage area, although it certainly had a theatrical edge to it. Also surprising were the huge dogs (dalmatians, I think) that popped out from between the trunks as if they were to be part of the performance.

Now holding hands with a girl I had met outside, we spotted a couple of spare wooden chairs near the front, and sat down to watch. The performance was engaging, but we also chatted quietly, still hand-in-hand, as the band played. I can't recall how we got talking, or why she took a liking to me, but I wasn't complaining. t's just a pity I couldn't stay a few minutes longer so that I could remember what she looked like, or notice what the band was playing, or even say goodbye to my friend.

Thanks for the invitation, Heath! It was a beautiful, intriguing, unreal night.

Okay, I admit that opening a file 14334 times to see if it has a line matching the current item may not be the most efficient thing to do. In hindsight, reading the whole 2396 line data set (432 Kb) into memory might have been a better thing to do. *Taps watch*

3200 lines done so far. Time to check that I'm not "while"ing my way through every line after a match is found... Hmm, it seems that I am. Just in case an item is in there twice, though it shouldn't be. Meh. I think I'll leave it, just in case.

nathanj@pecan.local> 11:59pm [~/]: date
Sat 31 Dec 2011 23:59:55 EST

nathanj@pecan.local> 11:59pm [~/]: date
Sat 31 Dec 2011 23:59:56 EST

nathanj@pecan.local> 11:59pm [~/]: date
Sat 31 Dec 2011 23:59:57 EST

nathanj@pecan.local> 11:59pm [~/]: date
Sat 31 Dec 2011 23:59:58 EST

nathanj@pecan.local> 11:59pm [~/]: date
Sat 31 Dec 2011 23:59:59 EST

nathanj@pecan.local> DING! [~/]: date
Sun 1 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST

nathanj@pecan.local> 12:00am [~/]: date
Sun 1 Jan 2012 00:00:02 EST

nathanj@pecan.local> 12:00am [~/]: echo "Countdown complete. Happy Year End."
Countdown complete. Happy Year End.

This is a photo I didn't take of a couple boys aged about 12, cycling around Frankston North on trikes that were the size of adult bikes, flat green in colour, as if coated in fence paint, and each with a wooden platform between the two rear wheels to carry stuff. As they rode along the street I was turning into I heard music, and in the rear vision mirror I saw that one of them had some kind of music player mounted on the back. It looked like a big old-fashioned radio. As I admired the ingenuity, I wondered if this was simply a display of good clean fun, or whether the rig was his answer to decking out a V8 with a subwoofer with such power that you can feel it for a mile before you hear it or see it...

So, I finally decided to upgrade to Lion. Only problem is that the Mac App Store is buggy and won't fully download the installer. What's really bizarre about it, though, is that it's not like it's getting stuck or anything – rather, the partial download gets cleared away any time I switch to the login window.

Me: "3 Gb downloaded. I'll let the last bit download and install it in the morning." [switches to login window]

Mac: "Ooh, look, he's switched to the login window. Guess he won't be needing this, then." [deletes download from ~/Library/Application Support/AppStore]

WTF? Why would Mac App Store do that? It's not like I logged out. (And even then, it should be possible to resume a partial download.) Grr...

I think simple watches (those that aren't aware of dates and time-zones) were invented so that there'd be something to use as a reference point when you're thinking "Oh, it's 3:25. Um, is that really 2:25 (up till daylight savings started, at least), or has my phone already adjusted the time?"

I wonder who Chris Lilley studied when modelling characters for Angry Boys. Just heard members of the Wu-Tang Clan being interviewed on the radio, and all I could hear was S.Mouse, you know what I'm sayin'...

Parenting is primarily about being consistent and letting go, but there are also secondary tenets, such as teaching them everything you know.

Tonight's subject was sensors, triggered by a question about how the light comes on when we leave the house. It's the most fun we've had since exploring the house to see how many different countries make the things we buy!

So far we've talked about motion sensors, heat sensors, hands-free soap dispensers, smoke detectors, those rectangles cut into roads to detect cars waiting at traffic lights, infra-red, touch screens and the electricity in our skin, plus various uses for accelerometers.

"Good night. I can't think of any more sensors for now, but tomorrow I'll tell you about the Census!" They didn't want to wait, but I insisted. And so, tomorrow is Census awareness day. I can't wait till Sunday when we talk about censors. :-)

I'd just like to take this opportunity to be juvenile for a moment and say "fuck you, ICANN". Jon Postel must be turning over in his grave. Interestingly, I haven't heard Vint Cerf comment on it yet. I'd love to know if he supports the plan or thinks it's dubious, but doesn't want to speak ill of his former employer.

So, now we know what the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) is supporting: greed and profit. It's certainly not supporting the Internet community as a whole, especially users. The argument that users will benefit is bogus: all this does is open up the potential for confusion.

The ICANN mission is to:

1. Coordinate the allocation and assignment of various names and numbers (DNS, IP, ASN, protocol ports ad parameters).
   
2. Coordinate the operation and evolution of the DNS root name server system.
   
3. Coordinate policy development reasonably and appropriately related to these technical functions

Of all of these, it seems their primary focus is on policy development, but they didn't bother reading the rest of the sentence. Or perhaps they noticed that there's no comma after "reasonably and appropriately", and therefore felt that they could coordinate policy development however they like, so long as the policies are related to the technical functions.

I think there should perhaps be a forth item on the list: restrict growth of the organisation, operating at the smallest possible size that will sustain the technical functions. Sure, they may be technically a non-profit, but they're also living up the "Corporation" part of their name.

Whilst donating to Inspire Foundation (the organisation behind ReachOut.com) in support of #MikeReachesOut, I noticed this statistic on their website:

"...suicide remains the leading cause of death among young people aged 14 -25, ahead of road and traffic accidents."

Now, I realise they're saying this to highlight the importance of tackling youth suicide, but is it wrong that it occurs to me that there are two ways to solve the problem?