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Thursday, August 31, 2006

Monkey Bites- Tube Sock

Some Nerd News that might be of interest!!
Monkey Bites:
"A new shareware application called TubeSock lets you save YouTube videos to your iPod, PSP or iTunes library. The application, which is Mac-only, converts any YouTube video to the H.264 iPod format or the MP4 PSP format. Also, if you only have an audio iPod (like me) then you can save the just audio track as an MP3."
posted by thr at 9:22 am 0 comments

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Jon-Benet Ramsey aftermath.

Gentle Reader,

We find ourselves in a curious place; a confession with no charges. In this age of DNA testing, confessions no longer count. Just as well eh? This Karr freak would swing, and the real murdered would go free.

That said, I've always maintained that this was a suicide made to look like murder. Why? well:
1. They gave their daughter a man's name.
2. They made her dress like a twenty something rodeo clown and then go out in public.

So this was Jon-Benet's revenge as it were.

Ok 'nuff with the sick jokes.

"Now that Karr has been downgraded from "beauty pageant contestant killer" to "general interest crazy person with some kiddie porn"


...there is an obvious charge he could be held on:

Being a Harry Highpants in a public place


I mean GODDAMN look at them! This is supposed to be a torso shot, yet his pants have crept well into shot! Perhaps this is how he controls his urges? By getting his pants up so high it cuts off the circulation to his groin?

Either way, it's worthy of a Go Fug Yourself expose...
posted by thr at 10:31 am 1 comments

Exposing Saddam Hussein To 'South Park' Movie Well Within Geneva Convention Torture Guidelines

Exposing Saddam Hussein To 'South Park' Movie Well Within Geneva Convention Torture Guidelines - Defamer

i'm not sure what I make of this, and I'm pretty sure ol' Saddam Hussein has no idea what to maake of it either:
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone yesterday revealed Saddam is made to watch the movie "repeatedly" by the US Marines guarding him.


Mind. Boggle.
posted by thr at 10:27 am 0 comments

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

dj BC presents Wu Orleans

OH MY GOD- here it is! The best frickin' mashup OF THE YEAR!
dj BC has mashed up the Wu Tang Clan with old classics. It's just AMAZING:
1. Dirty Brass
Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Old Dirty Bastard
2. Boxing Fats Domino
Fats Domino, Wu-Tang Clan
3. Street Talkin' Wu
Dr. John, Bo Dollis, Wu-Tang Clan
4. Mardi Gras Drunkies
Dukes of Dixieland feat. Luther Kent, Tha Alkaholiks feat. ODB
5. Just The Wu Of Us
Rebirth Brass Band, U-God
6. Bogalusa Shimmy
Chris Burke and His New Orleans Music, Old Dirty Bastard
7. Beneath Dumaine Street
Tim McLaughlin, GZA feat. Kelis
8. New Orleans Method
Barry Martyn and His Down Home Boys, Method Man
9. Tico Tico Tash
Barry Martyn and His Down Home Boys, Tash feat. Raekwon
10. When The Meth Comes Marching In
Louis Armstrong, Method Man

HOLY CRAP this is good. DJ bc also did The Beastles- the Beastie Boys vs The Beatles mixups.

dj BC presents Wu Orleans
posted by thr at 8:44 pm 0 comments

Bikes... more bikes.

Miss Waysel wanted to show the other girls on night shift some bike pics (Coz She's TUFF ENUFF!)

Here we go:
HER (actually MY) Cagiva Mito 125 SOLD!
A thoroughbred racing machine, the itty bitty 125 Two stroke could put a lot of other bikes to shame- and regularly did. It was Rachel's first "gears and clutch" bike- and with a really twitchy engine and 7 gears, it was a tough learning curve. Looking at this photo, one thing is clear- it's love!




My Triumph Speed Triple Still got!
I mean really folks- have you ever seen anything mechanical be this sexy? Really?! It's 955cc's of British perfection. It's like Jordan with class, the Spice girls with talent, like... errr... Ok- this is the ONLY sexy thing to come out of the UK - ever.

In the pits @ Phillip Island

MY (actually this really is Rachel's)BMW R1100GS- The Bavarian Tractor. Still got it!
What you see below is perhaps the greatest bike ever made. Ask any motocyclist you know and they'll reluctantly agree. I mean what bike can go round corners like a sports bike, do 0-100 in 4 seconds, go round Oz, go 220 km/h fully loaded (on The unlimited speed highwaysof the NT!) go through mud, sand, water, snow and so on happily with 40 kilos of luggage and two people and only break down once with a minor issue? A BMW GS bike that's fuggin what!!
posted by thr at 7:22 pm 0 comments

Monday, August 28, 2006

Thomas 'slapped' with curfew

DON'T PANIC!
Thomas 'slapped' with curfew :

"Federal police have issued accused terrorist Jack Thomas with a control order, putting him under curfew and forcing him to return to Melbourne."


Phew! I saw the headline and thought "Great- Rachel's finally got her court order approved..."

Guess not!
posted by thr at 4:30 pm 1 comments

YouTube - Frisbee Dog

My olds dawg Jemma was a frisbee ace (and still is I imagine).

But this muttlee is in a class of his won:
YouTube - Frisbee Dog:

""
posted by thr at 3:22 pm 2 comments

Thursday, August 24, 2006

"Trainspotting" author says his wild days are over

"Trainspotting" author says his wild days are over:

"Scottish author Irvine Welsh, best known for the gritty Edinburgh novel 'Trainspotting,' poses at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, August 14, 2006. Welsh's latest book is another tale of vicious characters made worse by alcohol and drugs but the bad boy of Scottish literature says his own wild days are over."


Say it ain't so!!

For those of you who have not yet read "Trainspotting" (I'm looking at YOU Jake!) then fer chrissake ye needs ta gettit intaya!

It's a tough read- at first- but by the end you should have a rich Scottish Brogue (you may need to read parts of it out loud for it to make sense) that will fool Mel Gibson.

Whatever that means...
posted by thr at 7:40 am 2 comments

The Dilbert Blog: Steroid Commercial

I rather enjoy the RSS feed of Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame)blog.

I am nerdy. Very nerdy. Let's geddoverit.

Anyhoo, I really enjoyed this post about steroids- especially this quote:

The Dilbert Blog: Steroid Commercial:

"How happy are the guys who sell illegal steroids? You can't buy that kind of advertisement. And it sure makes it harder for the just-say-no people. "Kids, don't do steroids. If you do, you might become the fastest man in the world and have so much poontang and money that...I forget my point.""
posted by thr at 7:37 am 2 comments

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

This is how I'm getting to the MotoGP...

On one of these bad boys:

Suzuki Australia Pty. Ltd.:
"The Boulevard M109R is the most powerful cruiser Suzuki has ever produced. The all-new liquid-cooled 1,783cc engine featuring four valves per cylinder and SDTV digital fuel injection gives you all the power you need, when you need it.

This monster packs the largest engine pistons of any production car or bike on the planet. Each of the huge 112mm forged aluminium-alloy pistons use short skirts and cutaway sides to reduce friction and provide the rider with raw, unstoppable muscle."
posted by thr at 4:43 pm 3 comments

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Grannie's last heartbeat...

Grandmother labelled 'not for resuscitation' by hospital - National:

"A 94-YEAR-OLD grandmother who told her family she was happy to wake up alive every day was listed as 'not for resuscitation' against her family's will because of a misunderstanding at Frankston Hospital."


Well, I think I'm well versed in this area, having been involved at the decision level for both my Father and Sister.

They were not ready to go. They were not going to stay either. Ultimately, there was no decision to be made: their respective cancers were too far advanced. All we really wanted to provide for both of them was a "good death"- with family nearby, with all (most) things resolved, without pain and with dignity.

Someone else who spoke about the indignity of resuscitation being used on someone whose time had come was the late, great William Melvin Hicks:

I love the movies. Love 'em. Now I'm watching Terminator 2 the other day and I'm thinkin' to myself "they cannot top the stunts in this film, they cannot top this shit", unless, they start using terminally ill people as stunt people in feature films.... well hear me out, cos I know to a lot of you this may seem a little cruel. "Aww Bill, terminally ill stunt people? That's cruel!" You know what I think's cruel? Leaving your loved ones to die in a hospital room surrounded by strangers. Fuck that! Put 'em in the movies! What, you wanna let your grandmother live out her last days in a sterile hospital room, with translucent skin so thin you can see her last heartbeat work its way down her blue veins, or do you want her to meet Chuck Norris?


Now Bill was working the angles for laughs (and dying of pancreatic cancer to boot), but his central point is spot on: do you want your grandmother to die while being "worked on" by strangers, or do you want to have a room full of family there, giving their loved one the attention and dignity that they deserve?

I think so. I think arguing the case "NFR" on a 94 year old is bloody cruel and frankly- if you wanna be an economic rationalist- she's taking up a bed that a younger and likely-to-recover-person could be in.
posted by thr at 12:33 pm 2 comments

Friday, August 18, 2006

The Standing Wheelchair

Gear Factor:

"No, this isn't another generation of the Segway. It's a Standing Wheelchair, and despite its oxymornic name, we think it's a pretty empowering innovation. It lets folks with lower-body disabilities to stand upright, allowing them to function in ways the rest of us take for granted, whether it's pulling up to the counter at Starbuck's or talking to someone at eye level. "


I've always thought that Dean Kamen- creator of the Segway and the beta version of this "standing wheelchair" was not only a visionary- but a humanist and true contributor.

This new invention is just further proof. Sure it's gonna cost $10k (a guess) but what price freedom?



The pic to the right is not teh standing wheelchair- it's an earlier model.
posted by thr at 11:13 am 0 comments

Thursday, August 17, 2006

KG Armstrong

I went to my Godfather's funeral today, and wish to post the next few items in his honour.

First up here's an email he sent after a dinner we had not so long ago. I tortured him by giving him "Halfway Around Oz" on DVD. His reaction to it was typical Greg- blunt, but right! He'd also read an article I'd written late last year for a bikes mag.

Dear Tom,

I greatly enjoyed seeing you and Krista last week after quite a long interval. Both Rosemary and I liked Rachel -- you have made a good choice!

I read you article and was amused at the way you catered to your audience. It was similar to the Performance Car of the Year articles. It makes the reader feel that he is a member of a gang/club/circle of friends hearing a tale about a couple of well known real characters in the club on a famous occasion. I also noticed your use of the present tense to give that feeling of "It's happening NOW!". I will post the magazine back to Coralie.

We watched your video of the big trip a couple of nights ago and enjoyed it. I was at times a bit frustrated not to know where you were, e.g. where did you cross the Murray on a ferry? It would have been helpful to show a map from time to time with your route to that point marked on it. I have absolutely no idea how you got from Kakadu to Cape York. I thought the speeded up shots of driving along a road or walking down a track went on a bit too long. Nevertheless, it was a really good effort -- certainly better than anything I have done -- it held our interest and attention throughout and often gave us a laugh. I think the length of an hour was about right.

I am attaching the section of my Memoirs covering the first half of my life. I would be interested in any reaction or criticism you may have, either as a journalist or as a person whose world overlapped with mine.

Love,

Greg


I'll be posting (after I get permission) a short excerpt from the memoirs he sent that includes a great story about Greg and my Dad- getting into strife- but living large n' loud.

They are both resting in the same cemetary today. Gerg's a little higher up the hill

I think he'd like that- and Dad would hate it. It amused me no end.
posted by thr at 4:39 pm 0 comments

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

House crash blocks freeway

House crash blocks freeway:


"A house has fallen off the back of a truck on Melbourne's Eastern Freeway, causing traffic chaos."

Oh I love this on so many levels.
  • It's a house.
  • It's on a freeway.
  • It's "fallen off the back of a truck". (It's goin' cheap maaaate)


"House on a Freeway" Where the HELL is Samuel L Jackson??
posted by thr at 3:37 pm 0 comments

Extras - TV Reviews

Extras - TV Reviews - TV & Radio - Entertainment - theage.com.au:

"They've done it again. Simple as that. After setting the bar for brilliant, subtle, rewatchable TV comedy with The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant blaze new trails into the art of character comedy with Extras."



Finally I can agree with Jim Schembri on something: "Extras" is brilliant. The opening episode is just pure genius. Ben Stiller is full of ironic goodness and self deprecating hilarity.

I've seen the full first series (just 6 episodes) and I ask the ABC this: why so long? The DVD has been out for months- and not one episode shown here. Get it together- this is the sort of thing a commercial channel does!
posted by thr at 12:23 pm 0 comments

Man 'shot fidgeting son' - Times Online

A sligh variation on the "if I have to pull this car over" story...
Man 'shot fidgeting son'- Times:
"A MAN who is alleged to have shot his two-year-old son in the head because he would not sit still on a car journey is to be tried for attempted murder. "


What? No DVD player in the back? BAD DAD!
posted by thr at 11:53 am 2 comments

Monday, August 14, 2006

In Steroid Era, Will Golf's Integrity Stand Test? - New York Times

In Steroid Era, Will Golf's Integrity Stand Test? - New York Times:
"'Up until this point in time, I would have said it is a fairly laughable question,' Joey Sindelar, a seven-time PGA Tour winner, said in a recent interview. 'The guys in my era weren't workout guys. It didn't used to be such a brute strength thing. But we're getting some serious 6-1 baseball-player-type guys. There's probably going to be a time when you're going to look at guys and say, Well, sooner or later somebody is going to cross that line.'"


Oh God. Cross. That. Line. Now!

I've said it for years: golf and golfers are too damn precious. (I've also said this about tennis players) To me there is no difference between the skill and concentration to do the following: driving off the tee, putting, serving, shooting from the free throw line, kicking for goal, a penalty kick, boxing, facing a pace bowler, high jumping, facing a pitch, place kick, overhead smash, chipping out of a bunker.

See anything weird here? That's right in all but tennis and golf, the crouwd can make (are in fact encouraged) to make as much noise as possible to distract/encourage the person trying to concentrate. But not golf. Oh no! no! no! If Tiger hears a photographer take a pic he loses the plot.

"The most important shot of the entire week and he gets happy finger," moaned Woods of the photographer. "It just threw my focus off. I probably never got it back to where it should have been."

"I was so hot because of all the times for him to take a photo- I’m 236 yards out and I trying to hit a four iron in there which isn’t exactly an easy shot."

Boo frickin hoo!!

Imagine the equivalent: "I was so close to winning that game, but I just choked due to the crowd noise. DAMN CROWD!" Leo Barry if he'd missed that mark, 2005.
Or any number of games, events and so on decided by one person stepping up and blanking out the noise.

That's why steroids in golf is ideal. The players will end up so hot headed and angry they'll be lookingnfor people to gee them up.

Of course this all relates to my idea of having rock n roll golf. It's an idea that will bring golf out of the dark ages. Every hole will have a live band/DJ/performance artist involved.

So an opening hole might have a young band one trhe way up. The opening hole is the loosener, the support hole so it follows that it would have a support act type band.

A long par 5? The Rolling Stones of course. You have to be consistenet, in it for the long haul etc. A short, but genius par 3? A Jeff Buckley cover band/performer. Dog leg/weird par 4? Trance DJ. A hole with lots of water? Ambient DJ. It all makes sense.

Drinks would be served at every hole. The drinks would relate to the hole as well: from martinis to beers and so on.

In short, golfers will get with the program over time. It's just this ludicrous notion of tradition. Don't get me wrong, I love nothing more than a pair of plus 4s and a Brian Johnson cap and correct etiquette.

But I also like the ide of hitting 300 yards to the sound of Rammstein...
posted by thr at 1:20 pm 0 comments

Thursday, August 10, 2006

MotoGP 2006

Last year I was a part of 3AW's MotoGP coverage live from Phillip Island.

I'm pleased to announce that they have invited me back for another year. lots of cool things planned so it promises to be fun weekend for me, and a hopefully a worthy weekend of coverage on air

Hear last years race here. [14.5Mb, 47 Mins].
posted by thr at 9:52 pm 0 comments

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Read Jake's stuff...

My eldest nephew Jake is on the go- currently in Europe:

Jake's Blog
posted by thr at 9:09 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

nowwearetalking - On the case!

My ever growing empire has grown a little more...

Today I joined Telstra's official staff blogger list at www.nowwearetalking.com.au

See it here
nowwearetalking - On the case

XML Feed HERE
posted by thr at 4:49 pm 0 comments

Sportal.com.au - Motorsport

Sportal.com.au - Motorsport:
"Victorian Premier Steve Bracks has announced that the state has retained the right to host the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island until the end of 2011.

Speaking on Southern Cross Radio on Tuesday morning, Bracks revealed that the race will remain in Australia for the next five years, beating off rival bids from Dubai and South America."

Hooray!!!
posted by thr at 12:04 pm 0 comments

Sunday, August 06, 2006

A rare find...

So, I'm showing off the awesome speed of our new cable connection to Mum, and to do that we're surfing around the Australian War Memorial website- an absolutely splendid online record of all soldiers, actions, locales, medals and so on relating to Australians at war.

I accidently searched across the "collections database" for my Grandfather Trooper Thomas Hugh Sarre (instead of personel), and I found the following (second) pic. It's a photo no-one in my family (to my knowledge) has ever seen. It has been with the War Memorial (or in other war related storage) for 90 years.

Here's the photo we have from before he went to war (from approx 1914):



And here is the "lost pic" from 1918:


ID Number: B01153
Maker: Unknown
Place made: Syria: Lebanon, Beirut Tripoli Area- Tripoli
Date made: c December 1918
Physical description: Black & white
Summary: Portrait of Trooper T H Sarre MM, 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment.


I'll post the one other pic we have of him in uniform- and it's from before he went. The contrast between this second photo of Grandad - the battle hardened, recently wounded, Military medal winning soldier and the pic from before the war is as fascinating as it is depressing. He's not looking to camera in the second one- as if it no longer matters, in the second his hat is in "full hat" (ie not slouched) position/mode- a pragmatic rather than fashion statement due to the heat. He's also got his arms by his sides at attention in the first pic- but "at ease" (read: "over it") in the second. In the first he has his bandoliers (ammo storage) in place- for .303 rounds. In the end, he was a machine gunner who probably rarely used the Enfield .303, except for when he used the rather ominous bloody great bayonet just visible at his side.

My overall impression: the first pic is your classic "keen to go, where do I sign?" pic, with the second pic being the image of a man who's been through a number of awful things that he will now go home and never speak of.

...and that's exactly what he did.

read other posting about World War I and my Grandfather, Trooper Thomas Hugh Sarre

Update I:
I've ordered this photo as a print. Then I'll scan high res for others to download (family that is!)
Update II: Here are the downloads. High res 1 & 2. Choose your bandwidth wisely!

Hi res image- 9.2 Mb Warning! this is a very high res image and could take quite some time to download! Best for printing.

Medium/low res. 350Kb Low res- good for viewing on the PC etc..
posted by thr at 11:36 pm 1 comments

 
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