Speaking of Nom, Nom

I'm staying in St Kilda, which is nice.  There's a tram stop just about outside the hotel door, the Medina Executive Apartments room is quite good, the air conditioning is working well and there are quite a few good coffee joints within easy walking distance.

Speaking of walking distance, Phil Kent and I put in quite a bit of that on Friday afternoon. :)

The Australian Skeptics National Convention has been going well and the final day today looks to continue being well worth attending.  I've met some good, fun, skeptical people and look forward to meeting yet more. :)

I'll be having a chat with Linus from BackupAssist tomorrow about some of the exciting new products he and his crew are working on.

The Secular Party of Australia is having a Victorian Branch meeting tomorrow night at Sale e Pepe Italian Restaurant that I'll be attending which should be good, especially considering the Royal Commission into child sex abuse that Julia Gillard has finally (been forced) to call for.  Having a proper separation of church and State in Australia will ensure we never again treat these church organisations (and other NGOs) as anything special - we need to ensure that we treat our children with the utmost respect and care, unlike has been the case in the past, particularly in the catholic church.


Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Feaster and the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Just a reminder to all that as Feaster approaches - the time of year where we give thanks to our Pasta Master for His ultimate sacrifice on Food Friday where He boiled for our sins and after being refrigerated, was rinsed again on Sunday - we also need to remember that cheeses are the reason for the seasoning.

Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

Ramen.

- The Outspoken Wookie

Word Lens: How Cool Is This?

Wow - this is a pretty cool idea!  :)

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/12/world_lens_is_an_augmented_reality_translator_for_your_iphone.html


Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

The Physics of Santa

OK, so a fat man in a red suit is supposed to use flying male reindeer to deliver presents to the world's good Christian (and a few other religions, less a few Christian sects/denominations who don't celebate anything) children on December 24th?  Really?

Well, the thing with reindeer is that the male reindeer (the older ones, at least) drop their antlers in December (the younger males around March and the females around June-July) which means that as time goes by, assuming that reindeer live for over 2000 (or so) years, Rudolph wouldn't have antlers around Christmas time.  He may have when he was younger, or maybe Rudolph is actually female?  Either way, Rudolph isn't quite what he's made out to be.  Oh, yeah, and there's that flying thing, too!

So, the antler and flight issues aside, have you thought about how much energy one man would need to be able to travel around the entire planet - not just in a circle, stopping house-to-house to climb down a chimney (if one exists), deliver presents, drink milk/beer and eat cookies/whatever, possibly say hello in a special Santa way to mummy, and then head to the next house?

A relatively decent overview of the forces involved (though this does talk about "centrifugal" instead of the actual "centripetal" force involved) can be found at Snopes and many other places on the Intarweb.

A humorous, yet ludicrous account of how Santa may actually exist can be found here.

So, if we can encourage our children to believe in old, male, fully antlered, flying reindeer being able to pull a man around 121 million kilometers in one day (admittedly, with extended hours due to the rotation of the Earth) and a rabbit that delivers chocolate eggs, no wonder we can have them believe in a supernatural being that cares about our plight yet lets us make our own choices.

Personally, I'd rather believe in sanity, science and things that can actually exist.

Happy Festivus to all.  Maybe we should all look towards having a HumanLight party which happens to approximately fall on the approximate day of Festivus - the 23rd December, to celebrate sanity and the belief in human beings having morals and good intentions without needing a supernatural prod in the right direction.  This would encourage our children to grow up to believe in themselves, to believe in reason, to do good to others because it is simply the right thing to do.

As atheists, there's only one more God that we don't believe in compared to Christians, and here is the list.  So, you can see that we have a great deal in common and a small amount that we disagree on.

So, to all, I wish you a happy and safe holiday season and a happy and prosperous 2010.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

H1N1 Influenza Strain 09 (Swine Flu)

In case anyone is interested, I'm regularly updating my original Swine Flu post with the current stats. I'll keep doing it for a while, at least.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Swine Flu

The WHO (and similar agencies) NEVER raise the level of threat of any contaigen without having good reason - we all know of the boy who cried wolf! Sure, they don't always get it right, but who does? They are pretty good with their knowledge of pathogen spread.

And then comes along Swine Flu. The threat levels have been raised, and it seems now that this was for good reason.

(Update: 11 June, 2009:

This announcement by the WHO to raise its global pandemic alert recognises the continuing spread of the virus around the world but it also acknowledges that at this time the H1N1 Influenza 09 is a moderate disease.

WHO Phase 6 is characterised by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region (from the source country). It indicates there is sustained human to human, community level transmission.

Designation of this phase indicates that a global pandemic is underway and that it is no longer possible to contain the virus in a particular geographical area.

The WHO recognises that globally there is good reason to believe that the pandemic, at least in its early stages, will be of moderate severity but that, as we know from experience, the severity of the pandemic can vary from one country to another. The WHO will continue to monitor the situation quite closely.

)

On May 9 2009 the first case of Swine Flu was recorded in Australia. 20 days later there's now 103 confirmed cases. As far as I can tell, the growth has been like this:

Date	No. Cases	No. Deaths	Comment
May 08, 2009	0	0	No confirmed cases
May 09, 2009	1	0	First confirmed case (via USA)
May 20, 2009	5	0
May 21, 2009	10	0	First human-human transmission in .au
May 22, 2009	11	0
May 24, 2009	16	0
26 May, 2009	31	0
27 May, 2009	66	0
28 May, 2009	103	0
28 May, 2009	147	0
29 May, 2009	168	0
30 May, 2009	254	0
31 May, 2009	297	0
01 Jun, 2009	401	0
02 Jun, 2009	501	0
03 Jun, 2009	633	0
04 Jun, 2009	876	0
05 Jun, 2009	1006	0
07 Jun, 2009	1051	0
08 Jun, 2009	1207	0
09 Jun, 2009	1211	0
10 Jun, 2009	1263	0
11 Jun, 2009	1263	0	Pandemic Alert Level raised from 5 to 6 - this is the first global Influenza pandemic in 40 years
12 Jun, 2009	1307	0
14 Jun, 2009	1542	0
15 Jun, 2009	1823	0
16 Jun, 2009	1965	0
17 Jun, 2009	2112	0
18 Jun, 2009	2199	0
19 Jun, 2009	2330	1	26yo man from WA with other pre-existing chronic diseases died in SA - first suspected H1N1 Influenza 09 death in Australia
20 Jun, 2009	2383	1
21 Jun, 2009	2436	1
22 Jun, 2009	2733	1
23 Jun, 2009	2857	2	A Victorian died of H1N1 Influenza 09, laboratory results confirming the virus after death
24 Jun, 2009	2994	3	A second Victorian died of H1N1 Influenza 09, laboratory results confirming the virus after death
25 Jun, 2009	3280	3
26 Jun, 2009	3519	4	A third Victorian has died of H1N1 Influenza 09
27 Jun, 2009	3677	5	A western Australian has been confirmed dead from H1N1 Influenza 09
28 Jun, 2009	3858	5
29 Jun, 2009	4038	7	Two more Victorians have died from H1N1 Influenza 09
30 Jun, 2009	4090	7
01 Jul, 2009	4370	7
2 Jul, 2009	4568	5	An additional 2 Victorian deaths have been attributed to H1N1 Influenza 09
3 Jul, 2009	4958	10	SA 1; Vic 7; WA 1; NSW 1
4 Jul, 2009	5254	10	SA 1; Vic 7; WA 1; NSW 1
5 Jul, 2009	5298	10	SA 1; Vic 7; WA 1; NSW 1
6 Jul, 2009	5733	11	SA 1; Vic 7; WA 1; NSW 2
7 Jul, 2009	6353	13	SA 1; Vic 7; WA 1; NSW 2; NT 1; Tas 1
8 Jul, 2009	6767	13	SA 1; Vic 7; WA 1; NSW 2; NT 1; Tas 1
9 Jul, 2009	7290	18	SA 1; Vic 11; WA 1; NSW 3; NT 1; Tas 1
10 Jul, 2009	7933	18	SA 1; Vic 11; WA 1; NSW 3; NT 1; Tas 1 Now known officially as "Pandemic (H1N1) 2009"
11 Jul, 2009	8006	18	SA 1; Vic 11; WA 1; NSW 3; NT 1; Tas 1
12 Jul, 2009	8337	18	SA 1; Vic 11; WA 1; NSW 3; NT 1; Tas 1
13 Jul, 2009	9050	18	SA 1; Vic 11; WA 1; NSW 3; NT 1; Tas 1
14 Jul, 2009	9828	19	SA 1; Vic 11; WA 1; NSW 4; NT 1; Tas 1
15 Jul, 2009	10389	21	SA 1; Vic 12; WA 1; NSW 5; NT 1; Tas 1
16 Jul, 2009	11194	24	SA 2; Vic 12; WA 1; NSW 5; NT 2; Tas 1; Qld 1 Queensland records its first H1N1 related death.
17 Jul, 2009	11962	31	SA 2; Vic 14; WA 1; NSW 10; NT 2; Tas 1; Qld 1
18 Jul, 2009	12001	31	SA 2; Vic 14; WA 1; NSW 10; NT 2; Tas 1; Qld 1
19 Jul, 2009	12048	31	SA 2; Vic 14; WA 1; NSW 10; NT 2; Tas 1; Qld 1
20 Jul, 2009	13178	32	SA 2; Vic 14; WA 1; NSW 10; NT 3; Tas 1; Qld 1
21 Jul, 2009	14037	37	SA 2; Vic 15; WA 1; NSW 14; NT 3; Tas 1; Qld 1
22 Jul, 2009	14703	41	SA 3; Vic 15; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 1; Qld 1
23 Jul, 2009	15701	43	SA 3; Vic 15; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 2; Qld 2
24 Jul, 2009	16567	46	SA 4; Vic 15; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 2; Qld 4
25 Jul, 2009	16768	47	SA 4; Vic 15; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 2; Qld 5
26 Jul, 2009	16768	48	SA 5; Vic 15; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 2; Qld 5
27 Jul, 2009	17061	50	SA 5; Vic 16; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 2; Qld 6
28 Jul, 2009	19026	50	SA 5; Vic 16; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 2; Qld 6
29 Jul, 2009	20109	53	SA 6; Vic 16; WA 1; NSW 17; NT 3; Tas 3; Qld 7
30 Jul, 2009	20688	58	SA 6; Vic 16; WA 2; NSW 21; NT 3; Tas 3; Qld 7
31 Jul, 2009	21668	61	SA 6; Vic 17; WA 2; NSW 22; NT 3; Tas 3; Qld 8
1 Aug, 2009	21752	62	SA 6; Vic 17; WA 2; NSW 22; NT 3; Tas 3; Qld 8; ACT 1
2 Aug, 2009	21752	63	SA 6; Vic 17; WA 2; NSW 22; NT 3; Tas 4; Qld 9
3 Aug, 2009	22109	67	SA 6; Vic 17; WA 2; NSW 24; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 10
4 Aug, 2009	23692	70	SA 7; Vic 17; WA 2; NSW 24; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 12
5 Aug, 2009	24114	74	SA 7; Vic 17; WA 5; NSW 24; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 13
6 Aug, 2009	24395	77	SA 7; Vic 18; WA 5; NSW 24; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 15
7 Aug, 2009	24949	85	SA 8; Vic 18; WA 5; NSW 30; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 15; ACT 1
9 Aug, 2009	26399	88	SA 8; Vic 18; WA 5; NSW 30; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 18; ACT 1
10 Aug, 2009	26957	92	SA 9; Vic 18; WA 5; NSW 33; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 18; ACT 1
11 Aug, 2009	27663	95	SA 9; Vic 19; WA 8; NSW 32; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 18; ACT 1
12 Aug, 2009	28307	100	SA 9; Vic 21; WA 8; NSW 32; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 21; ACT 1
13 Aug, 2009	28987	102	SA 9; Vic 21; WA 10; NSW 32; NT 4; Tas 4; Qld 21; ACT 1
15 Aug, 2009	29833	108
16 Aug, 2009	29833	110
17 Aug, 2009	30111	112	SA 9; Vic 21; WA 12; NSW 33; NT 5; Tas 5; Qld 25; ACT 2
18 Aug, 2009	30993	118	SA 10; Vic 22; WA 15; NSW 33; NT 5; Tas 6; Qld 25; ACT 2
19 Aug, 2009	32224	121	SA 12; Vic 22; WA 15; NSW 33; NT 5; Tas 6; Qld 26; ACT 2
20 Aug, 2009	32799	128	SA 13; Vic 22; WA 16; NSW 36; NT 5; Tas 6; Qld 28; ACT 2
21 Aug, 2009	33179	131	SA 14; Vic 24; WA 16; NSW 36; NT 5; Tas 6; Qld 28; ACT 2
22 Aug, 2009	33228	132	SA 14; Vic 24; WA 17; NSW 36; NT 5; Tas 6; Qld 28; ACT 2
24 Aug, 2009	33511	132	SA 14; Vic 24; WA 17; NSW 36; NT 5; Tas 6; Qld 28; ACT 2
25 Aug, 2009	33844	132	SA 14; Vic 24; WA 17; NSW 36; NT 5; Tas 6; Qld 28; ACT 2
26 Aug, 2009	34180	138	SA 15; Vic 24; WA 19; NSW 36; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 30; ACT 2
27 Aug, 2009	34332	147	SA 15; Vic 24; WA 20; NSW 41; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 33; ACT 2
28 Aug, 2009	34467	150	SA 16; Vic 24; WA 20; NSW 41; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 35; ACT 2
29 Aug, 2009	34508	150	SA 16; Vic 24; WA 20; NSW 41; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 35; ACT 2
30 Aug, 2009	34543	150	SA 16; Vic 24; WA 20; NSW 41; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 35; ACT 2
31 Aug, 2009	34593	150	SA 16; Vic 24; WA 20; NSW 41; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 35; ACT 2
1 Sep, 2009	34924	154	SA 16; Vic 24; WA 23; NSW 41; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 36; ACT 2
2 Sep, 2009	35095	155	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 23; NSW 41; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 36; ACT 2
3 Sep, 2009	35225	160	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 23; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 36; ACT 2
4 Sep, 2009	35444	161	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 23; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 37; ACT 2
5 Sep, 2009	35474	161	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 23; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 37; ACT 2
6 Sep, 2009	35474	161	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 23; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 37; ACT 2
7 Sep, 2009	35579	161	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 23; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 37; ACT 2
8 Sep, 2009	35701	162	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 37; ACT 2
9 Sep, 2009	35775	162	SA 17; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 37; ACT 2
10 Sep, 2009	35897	165	SA 18; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 46; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 39; ACT 2
11 Sep, 2009	35921	169	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 48; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 39; ACT 2
12 Sep, 2009	35933	169	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 48; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 39; ACT 2
13 Sep, 2009	35933	169	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 48; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 39; ACT 2
14 Sep, 2009	35963	169	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 48; NT 6; Tas 6; Qld 39; ACT 2
15 Sep, 2009	36138	171	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 48; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
16 Sep, 2009	36173	171	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 48; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
17 Sep, 2009	36210	172	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
18 Sep, 2009	36237	172	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
19 Sep, 2009	36237	172	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
20 Sep, 2009	36237	172	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
21 Sep, 2009	36263	172	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
22 Sep, 2009	36270	172	SA 20; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
23 Sep, 2009	36454	177	SA 25; Vic 24; WA 24; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
24 Sep, 2009	36487	178	SA 25; Vic 24; WA 25; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
25 Sep, 2009	36487	179	* SA 25; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2 * The reporting of current hospitalisations has been replaced by weekly reporting of new hospitalisations, as States and Territories have moved from reporting data daily to weekly as at 25 September, 2009.
26 Sep, 2009	36487	179	SA 25; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
27 Sep, 2009	36487	179	SA 25; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
28 Sep, 2009	36495	179	SA 25; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
29 Sep, 2009	36605	180	SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
30 Sep, 2009	36626	180	SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
1 Oct, 2009	36644	180	SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 49; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 40; ACT 2
2 Oct, 2009	36670	183	* SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
3 Oct, 2009	36670	183	SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
4 Oct, 2009	36670	183	SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
5 Oct, 2009	36670	183	SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
6 Oct, 2009	36888	183	SA 26; Vic 24; WA 26; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
7 Oct, 2009	36888	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
8 Oct, 2009	36888	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
9 Oct, 2009	36889	185	* SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
12 Oct, 2009	36889	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
13 Oct, 2009	36910	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
14 Oct, 2009	36936	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
15 Oct, 2009	36940	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
16 Oct, 2009	36942	185	* SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
19 Oct, 2009	36958	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
20 Oct, 2009	36968	185	SA 27; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2
21 Oct, 2009	36991	186	SA 28; Vic 24; WA 27; NSW 51; NT 6; Tas 7; Qld 41; ACT 2

Yes, this is an absolutely standard and to be expected trend for any pathogen. Nothing alarming, just showing there's nothing out of the ordinary as far as infection rates goes. What is interesting is that we appear to be in the area of pandemic/other infections when the maximum number of infected people in the community is about to be reached. This can be seen by the flattening out of the graph from around 26 Aug until present (20 Oct).

Now, these figures are far from official, but have been gleaned from various news sources, and we all know how accurate these can be at times. But it is probably close enough to see a trend!

(Update: I'm now getting all figures from the Health Emergency website or the WHO's Situation Updates. At least that will mean all future figures will be the official figures. I also updated the totals in the list to reflect any totals listed on that site, so these figures are all *very* close to official figures now.)

Will the H1N1 Influenza 09 strain (Swine Flu) wipe us all out? Likely not. Will it affect us all? Likely not. Will it affect us more than the H5N1 strain of Bird Flu? Quite likely.

Right now there's (updated figures) 3205 deaths worldwide and 171 in Australia attributed to Swine Flu. But as the number of affected children increases (and as Swine Flu parties continue to occur, flying in the face of logic), this number may well rise.

So why did I blog this? Purely so people get a chance to see the approximate growth figures in one place instead of needing to read 20 different articles to find them. Keep an eye out for this one and in the mean time, try not to cough in my direction, please. :)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

The Queen and Erick

After I left Orlando I flew to LAX and spent the next few nights on the Queen Mary. This was a great change from your regular hotel - staying on a luxury cruise ship that happened to once be a troop carrier (as the gun on her deck shows) with a Russian "Scorpion" Foxtrot-Class submarine also floating alongside her.

I also went on a Hollywood tour and a Star Homes tour which were both quite interesting. I didn't really plan on the Star Homes tour (as I really don't care), but as I was in the area, "do as Romans do" felt right. Because the two tour directors were completely bonkers, I really enjoyed them both - a good way to spend the day.

I also caught up with Erick Simpson of Managed Services Provider University in Garden Grove. Erick is another really nice guy who has a really good understanding of the SMB IT market space and also has a good understanding of the benefits being an MSP can provide for your company and also for your clients. He has a good working relationship with and knowledge of a lot of the products on offer and I suggest that if you're even vaguely interested in providing a better service to your clients whilst making your life at work a little easier you take a look at his offerings - especially if you're already an SBSC as he has a special bonus for SBSCs. MSPU has a lot of online free training material also, for those who are wanting to look first before outlaying their own hard earned cash.

I then waited for 3.5 hours after the 11:20pm flight was supposed to leave LAX before we started backing away from the concourse and making our way back to Brisbane - there was a delay in the NY - LA flight which kept us all sitting in the smallest international terminal part of a decent airport that you'd want to be in. I'd have thought LAX was bigger/better than that, but in the end, we all boarded, flew and landed, so all up, not that bad, considering. At least we didn't get one of the "cheap maintenance" Qantas planes. :)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

KSC And A Weekend With Scott

OK. So after the WPC '08 in Houston, I flew to Orlando to do two important things. The first was to visit Kennedy Space Center and the second was to catch up with Scott Cayouette. Scott lives in Miami, has been to Orlando a number of times, is interested in the space program, but had never been to KSC. So I decided that I should combine both of these reasons for going to Orlando and invite Scott to KSC for the weekend.

Well first, I don't know if I should post the photos of us there - we're kind of depressed about the size we're currently showing as on camera - we're both quite sure we're not actually that big. Well, at least those photos encouraged us to do something about that aspect of our lives! :)

Now, we went on the Then and Now tour on the Saturday where you get to go around and see a lot of the older launch sites, visit the space and missile museum and generally get a better feel for the history behing the Cape Canaveral site. Sunday was when we went on the NASA Up Close tour on which we got to see a lot more Shuttle related areas and got pretty close to the launch pads and the landing strip. Both days, both tours, to be honest, to a space nerd, were great. :)

After being on the Level 9 tour of JSC in Houston and now having been around KSC in Orlando, I can be almost happy with things. I really want to be at KSC to experience a Shuttle launch - preferably inside the vehicle, but that's pretty unlikely (despite the fact that a lot of people would be made very happy if this was to occur). Maybe Oct 8th for the STS-125 launch... We'll see.

Anyway, as Scott is on the SBS advisory board for Microsoft and has a good understanding of not only the SMB marketplace in Miami and Florida, but as a whole, it was good to catch up with him in person, chat about issues we're both encountering and talk about things that we'd like to see from both the SBSCs and also Microsoft in the SMB market space. We have a lot in common and I think we both benefitted from not only the visit to KSC (Scott now has himself an annual pass and isn't afraid to use it) but also from being able to talk about the SBSC program and SMB IT in general.

Scott's a nice guy and this was a good weekend. Time well spent, I'd say.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Vodafone Sux

Vodafone sux. Really sux. Before I went to New Zealand in Nov/Dec last year (2007) I asked for International Roaming to be enabled and was assured it had been turned on. Then I left my phone in the car, so couldn't check this when in NZ, but it was no biggie as I had already sorted out a hire SIM.

Now that I'm in the USA, International Roaming would be handy. So I called to confirm it was enabled the week before I left. They assured me it was enabled and would be working. Excellent. Then I arrived in LAX and got no signal (and yes, it is a quad-band phone so should work fine). I asked Laz to confirm that international roaming was enabled, and when he finally got through to them, they said they were having some temporary partnering issues (I'd guess this means that they wanted to partner for a cheaper price and their partners said no). So I waited a day or two and still had the same issues. So I bought a T-Mobile pre-paid phone for US$30 with $10 credit. That worked fine.

And then I checked on the website whilst I was forwarding my Australian number to my US number and found out that International Roaming was not enabled. So Vodafone lied to both me and also to Laz. Color me impressed! :(

Now, the credit on the T-Mobile pre-paid ran out so I needed to top it up and rang the number to have $25 added and of course they can't accept Australian credit cards like almost every other company on the planet will. So I went back to Fry's to buy a refill card and guess what - Fry's don't sell refill cards for thre T-Mobile pre-paid phones they sell, but the helpful assistant said that there was a Sprint store out in front of Fry's. Of course, he said, they don't sell T-Mobile cards. I wonder why he didn't tell me about *all* of the irrelevant things nearby!

So, I eventually found a store who sold refills and I'm back with phone access. Why should this be so hard?

And yes, I'll be sending Vodafone an Invoice for the phone and the refill, and I'd be happy to send them the handset once they agree to pay for it. :)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Houston, we have a Wookie!

Well, I arrived in Houston on 2 July, picked up the rental car and decided that as it was nearly 6pm, the best way to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road (which is the right side of the road, not the left side of the road (which is the right side of the road)) was to just do it. Somewhat like Nike!

So I just did it. And it wasn't anywhere near as freaky as I'd thought. I'd sat on the left side of any bus I'd caught over the past few days in preparation for this and made sure to pass people on sidewalks on the right side. So I think that must have been good prep as the actual driving wasn't really much of a headspin at all.

On Thursday (3rd) I went out for a bit of a drive and then headed into Johnson Space Center for the Level 9 tour. This was great - we got to see Shannon Walker (Andy Thomas' wife) in the floatation tank (ok, the Neutral Buoyancy Lab) getting her feet into the foot restraint that's used on the Canada Arm and various other places when there's the need to restrain an astronaut during an EVA - such as during the operation of any power tools. This was interesting to watch as there's simply no way an astronaut can see their feet during this procedure and they have to go by feel (through an EVA suit) and experience alone, and as this was her first time, it was all new to her.

We also went to Mission Control Center and saw the original Apollo Mission Control Room and walked around in it for a while, watched the Shuttle and ISS Mission Control Room and went into a few other areas of JSC that were not on the normal tours, including the shutrle/ISS testing facility where we saw interns working on the new moon rovers and a full size training mock up of the ISS and Shuttles.

The Level 9 tour was well and truly worth it and I'd recommend anyone as interested in space/NASA as I am does this tour. Next stop, KSC. :)

OK, next stop was actually back in Houston and we're almost ready for the 2008 WPC to get underway. The 2008 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (which is actually in 2008 - something unusual for those living in Microsoft Time) starts for the SBSC PALs this afternoon, and for all other participants - over 10,000 - tomorrow. This should definitely be an interesting experience, especially as I have a genetic resilience to KoolAid and after all, WPC and the .au Partner Conference (and all others) are Microsoft trying to sell Microsoft to their partners. Believe me, I'll be posting on this during the Conference. :)

Dean Calvert and I went into the "Chevy's Freedom Over Texas" event here in Houston on 4th July, then left around 9:00 for dinner with The Sarahs (Thiele and Arnold) which was good. LOADS of people in there, country music (it *IS* Texas) and seriously unhealthy food stands.

A few of the PALs caught up with Chris Rue for dinner last night and a good time was had by all. This should definitely be an interesting week.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Leaving Las Vegas

OK. Now I'm surprised. I was not really interested in Las Vegas before I left, but Laz and Damien (the other Quark Group directors) insisted I visit the place to see how "over the top" it was. So, well, why not. I was, however looking forward to the Grand Canyon plane, bus ride, chopper landing, pontoon and return - that should be cool.

So, Las Vegas. Ummm, in a word? WOW! That place is insane - "over the top" is about as much of an understatement as "when our Sun supernovas, the Earth may be a little different". I barely scratched the protective coating of the cover over the surface in the 3 days I was there.

I really, really have to go back sometime for a bit longer - but probably no longer than 2 weeks, as more than that will likely drive a sane (well, that's questionable) man over the edge.

And the Grand Canyon - what a totally amazing experience that was. The pilot couldn't keep the plane on the ground the first 2 landing attempts due to wind, but managed nicely the third time - after the first 2 touch and go attempts we went around for a second approach and saw some awesome scenery we'd not normally see during a regular landing. The chopper landing was called off due to the temp being 120F at the bottom of the canyon (the air was too thin to safely land or take off with a passenger load), so I went on the Skywalk instead. I wasn't really interested in this before finding out the chopper landing was canned, but I was there and it was there, so why not? Well, it was definitely worth doing - standing over the biggest natural canyon in the world and looking down at the floor is, well, an experience that cannot (obviously) be matched on this planet. If you're going to the Grand Canyon, take the SkyWalk! :)

The Bellagio Fountains really are amazing. Caesar's Palace is massive. Most everything on the strip is impressive in size, architecture, extravagance and many other ways. And with all of the works in progress now, in a year or so it will be all that more impressive to visit. I've seen it on telly and it looks like Vegas. But only Vegas feels like Vegas - and you cannot experience that without being there yourself!

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Leaving Los Angeles

OK. Now I'm disappointed. VERY disappointed. I went to all the effort of printing out my latest bank statements, printing out accomodation details, filling out (most of) my VISA Waiver Form and mentally preparing to unHiltonize myself until I pass through US Customs, and, well, I passed through security easily, without even a queue. Yes, I took "easy to remove" shoes and didn't bother wearing a belt.

Now comes the really disappointing bit - it took a whole < 5 minutes to get through Customs, and about 4 minutes of that was the queue. Customs was easy - wasn't asked if I had anything to declare (which, in hindsight, was probably good - I wasn't bringing anything illegal into the USA, but probably would have declared some things that the TSA would have taken offence to!), just asked why I was entering, what the business reason was, when I was leaving, how many days that was from now (and I could even see his calculator - he could have worked it out himself), and then was fingerprinted, photographed, stamped and sent on to to wait for my 11:30 flight from LAX to Las Vegas.

Yup - I now had arrived on the inside of America at about 07:45 after getting my baggage, getting through security and Customs and saying "hooroo" to John and Susan, my neighbors and the couple I slept with for the past 13 or so hours. And I had over 3 hours to pass - I decided that with a 7:00 scheduled landing, about 4.5h between landing and departing was a sensible timeframe, which was confirmed by quite a few others I knew who had done a similar thing recently.

So I wander up to LAX NWA departures to check the flight and it is now saying that I have a 12:00pm departure - not so bad in the overall scheme of things.

So, at 1:30pm we finally departed after waiting for 2 delayed flights that we had to interconnect with. *Sigh*.

At least I finally got in the air and on the way to Vegas!

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Leaving Brisbane

Well, I got to the check in about 9AM for my 11:05 flight from Brisbane to LAX (suggested check in time is 2h before departure) and proceeded to stand in a queue for 2 and a quarter hours. After we passed the baggage check in queue, we then queued to go through customs for another 10 minutes, then queued to go through the first security check for another 10 minutes and then queued to go through a second security check. After this, I was lucky enough to get felt up by a nice Customs bloke (well, they called it a "random pat down") just as the guy in front of me got. That was my excitement for the morning! :)

We finally boarded the QF175 from BNE to LAX and left just on one hour late. They added fuel so they could hit the "go fast" pedal and we landed at LAX about 15 minutes late, then had to queue waiting for a gate to disembark.

'Twas a decent flight - I got a decent hour or so of sleep, sat next to a decent Aussie couple who I may catch up with again at Orlando as they will likely be at KSC when I am, and landed as expected. Hopefully the late departures and queueing is over... oh, hang on, we're entering the USA - the Land of the Long Sweatty, Annoyed Customs Queue. :)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

The Aussie Federal Election

Well, it finally looks like the rest of the people in this country agreed with, well, I suppose the rest of the people in this country that Little Johnny Whoward? - the world's most irrelevant political leader - needed a career change. Not only did we tell him that his Party wasn't wanted to run the country, we also told him (well, his electorate told him) that he wasn't wanted to even manage that electorate.

A rather unceremonius dumping of a leader and his party that together had stayed around a little too long past their Use By date and had made some insanely stupid political decisions. I wouldn't like to say good bye, nor farewell, nor see you later, more like take that - and see how you like being treated how you treated the majority of us!

Anyway, we've now ridden ourselves of the ineptitude and plain stupidity of the Mr Sheen Man Party and taken a bow before the LegoMan Party. Let's hope that LegoMan - able to leap tall building blocks in a single step, able to enter a strip club and live to recount the tale, able to eat his own earwax and - YUCK!!! - anyway, let's hope that the LegoMan Party can turn around some of the damage that the Mr Sheen Man Party has done to the country in the past 3-6 years and that the Party Previously Known As The Mr Sheen Man Party can recover from their recent decimation in time to be able to stop the LegoMan Party from making some insane and detrimental decisions which they are bound to start doing in a few elections' time.

The best thing about all this is that were I actually in Brisbane on Sat 24 Nov, 2007, I'd have been working with ABC TV at the BCEC where Mr LegoMan was crowned Lord and Master. However, as I was out of the country at the time (if you count New Zealand as being out of Australia), sitting in a spa in a 5-Star motel in Whitianga, watching the election on NZ television, drinking a beer with the beach out the motel window. I think I had as big a win here as Mr LegoMan - hhmmm, ok, maybe not quite as big a win. :)

Anyway, I had a drink to the change that we needed. I just wonder how long it will be before we need another one?

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Wow, last post was 24th November?

It seems I've been slacker/busier (take your pick) than I thought. That's 2 months since my last post and I didn't think time flew!

Anyway...

So, what's happened since then? An election, a holiday,the christmas/new year break, a new year, work, life. Hhmmm, so, to recap...

I managed to fly out of Sydney on November 24th, 2007 to an unprepared Auckland International Airport in New Zealand. When I arrived, I had a nice chap ask me if I'd mind placing my carry-on luggage (a Lowepro CompuTrekker AW) on the ground for his Beagle to sniff. No probs... Then he asked me if I had any fruit in there and I told him I didn't, all the while being more interested in collecting my remaining luggage. Then he asked again, because the dog was rather interested in my bag. Then I remembered that when I'd gotten back home from my trip to NSW for a school reunion, I had a pair of bananas in the front pouch that I'd left in there for a couple of days before removing (and turning into banana bread).

Oops. :)

So I explained this to him, told him that he was more than welcome to open the bag, look, smell, feel - whatever he wanted. He did, and was suitably satisfied. He signed my Customs Declaration and I was on my way through to the Customs counter where they then asked me 20 questions about why I was carrying fruit (I'm not) and why I didn't declare it (because I wasn't carrying any) and what else I might be carrying (nothing - are you deaf or stupid) and that not declaring things was a crime (yeah, I'm not dumb, but you're slow to comprehend, mate). Finally they scanned my kit, realised that I was telling the truth (without the aid of an internal body cavity search) and let me go.

So, I picked up the hire car, proceeded to drive 4455 km around the North Island (in 11 days) and boarded the retuen flight home on December 5th, 2007. Customs in Australia seem not to own dogs, nor any will to even ask stupid questions - cayying anything? No. OK, off you go. :)

I got back to one "normal" work day and then a 7AM - 11:30pm day - something I'm more used to - I finished the day off at QPAC working for ABC TV on the "Spirit of Christmas" recording that was aired on christmas night. Tamsyn Carroll (gorgeous) and Jonathon Welch (see his amazing work with the Choir of Hard Knocks) were the stars of the show this year, with Tamsyn back for her second invite.

Then work. Like normal, daily, work work.

Then we had a holiday break. Kind of. This consisted of rebuilding our main server hosting our SBS 2003 R2 virtualized environment and the host it lives on. We looked more closely at MS CRM 4.0 as that is what we'll be making a move to in 2008 so that we can better manage the growth and various projects in our business. I also upgraded the phone system (currently running Asterisk) twice. It is now significantly more stable than it was when running on a Trixbox 2.2.3-1 base with all of the FreePBX and yum updates.

And now it is Australia Day eve - with a few servers and half dozen of so workstation builds almost completely behind us, along with a number of decent automation projects, this has been a good start to the year. It doesn't look like it is going to get any quieter, either, with what we're seeing coming up - and that's a good thing!

We're also currently rebuilding the Real Productions network including a new Studio PC. The old one I built about 4 years ago is still going strong - a Celeron 1.7, 512 MB RAM, PATA HDDs and it handles 40+ tracks plus effects in Cubase SX 2 like a hot knife through butter. It helps when you know how to trim the fat off XP Pro and make it into a lean, mean DAW machine. (Oh, that was appalling!) The Office PC is an old Pentium-II 233 with 384MB and 2 * <4 GB HDDs in it - and this is getting a little too long in the tooth to be usable, which is what's kicked off the rebuild.

The new Studio PC is a Core 2 Quad with 4 GB RAM, supplied with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 OEM and immediately upgraded to Windows XP Pro to make it useful. Running a DAW on Vista is like trying to get to the moon in a canoe with a teaspoon for a propellor. The old Studio PC will be stripped, re-cased and put into the Office. We're also upgrading the ADSL connection and installing an IP PBX (currently running Asterisk) and some IP phones in the studio and office - this will help offset the upgrade cost by reducing the phone bill significantly. All up, it won't be a "cheap" upgrade, but it will most definitely be a significant and cost effective one!

That's enough crapping on for now. More to follow

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Airport Stupidity

So, I have a 7AM flight (Sydney time) to Auckland ths morning. Due to The Bush Age, we're now all required to check in at least 2 hours prior to the flight time whereas it used to be one hour. Yay! So I got a 4AM wake up call in the motel and booked a 4:30 cab who was sitting waiting for me at 4:20 when I arrived in the lobby - a great start.

I get to the airport, check in in 2 minutes and then have to wait 15 minutes before Starbucks opens. I mean, what kind of world is it when you have to be at the airport BEFORE there's caffeine support available?!?!?!

Of course, Customs doesn't open until 6AM - they are a government department. So I have to wait around for an hour until Customs opens until I can even get to the boarding lounge.

Airport Security^H^H^H^H^H^H^Htupidity in the Bush Age!

Oh, well, that's why we have our "pick a pollie" day today so that we can, with any luck, dump the shortsighted idiot that got Australia into the position of "right up Dubya's rear" that we're in and instead install... legoMan as our illustrious puppet leader. (Puppet leader? He has no substance whatsoever, but at least he'll be a slight change. Maybe in 3 years we'll have to change him for someone with a clue, but we really need a change right now!)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie