clinton1550's blog

Announcing Unsanely Great And The Retirement of This Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:24:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks I've been working on my new site, it's finally time to whip the cover off in a dramatic fashion and watch everyone go "Oooooh". I'm pleased to announce Unsanely Great.

Unsanely Great will now be the place to find me and my work. I'll be posting articles on a semi-regular basis and photos five days a week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or follow the Twitter account for updates.

No further updates will be posted on this blog. Farewell Blogger, you have served me well.

Motorcycles And Kangaroos

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:59:00 +0000

Late this afternoon I was riding back home on the Cleve Road after a long day of sightseeing. I had cruise control on so I could rest my right hand which was very numb and a little cold. After stretching my fingers by opening and closing my hand a few times I rested it on the handlebar and happily cruised along at 100 Km/h.

The sun hadn't set but it was overcast, the fading light was making it hard to see things on the side of the road, like a kangaroo that might jump out in front of me.

Fortunately, I happened to look in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time and saw a young kangaroo sitting by the roadside, it would have been about fifty to one hundred metres ahead of me when I saw it so that didn't give me much time to react when it decided to jump out in front of me.

I reflexively pulled the clutch and applied both brakes hard, dropping down from 100 Km/h to 60 Km/h by the time the kangaroo was no less than five metres in front of me. If I had reacted even a second too late we would've collided. As soon as the kangaroo was clear I continued on and it was at this point I noticed something that's kinda awesome.

Cruise control was still on when the kangaroo jumped onto the road. Now, I'm not familiar with my bikes electronic cruise control as it was installed by the previous owner and I was under the impression that it had to be turned off manually. When I took off again, cruise control was still on but deactivated and I was in the correct gear. It seems that the bike changed down two gears when I stopped, why do I think it was the bike and not me? Because in the few times that I have been in an emergency situation I haven't changed gears, I just reflexively put the clutch in and go hard on the brakes.

Perhaps cruise control is programmed to change gears when there's a sudden drop in speed? I don't know for sure but that's what appears to have happened. Frankly I'm not game to test it again to find out, but it looks like the cruise control is more integrated into the bike than I first thought.

On a related note, I'm reminded of something my instructor at the Rider Safe course said; he was talking about keeping yourself safe on the road and the different situations motorcyclists can find themselves in, he told us:

"When you're lying awake late at night and you can't go to sleep just think of a few scenarios, you know, something that could happen on the road and what you could do to respond."

Then he asked us what we'd do if a kangaroo jumped out on the road. A woman attending the course with me simply said "pray". Her reasoning for this is that kangaroos are unpredictable animals, if we try to swerve around them there's no telling which direction they could go, they could jump back right into the side of the bike.

I took her point but I thought shouldn't we at least try stopping before we hope for the best? And that's what I did today, I reacted, I put the clutch in and slowed the bike with both brakes and then I hoped for the best. I'm really pleased that's my first reaction in an emergency situation and it shows that you really need to be alert on country roads. Anything can happen.

Where The Bloody Hell is my iPad?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:54:00 +0000

I recently started recording the Exastential Podcast with John Chidgey, episode 2 has just gone live on iTunes for your listening pleasure, you can also grab it from TechDistortion.

On the second episode of the Exastential Podcast we talked about the reasons why Apple uses Chinese labour, the reasons why Apple cops all the flak for using Chinese labour, RIM finally sacking their co-CEOs, Apple's latest quarterly financial results — spoiler alert: they made a fuckload of money — Google's motivations for corporate acquisitions, Kodak filing for bankruptcy, Megaupload's run in with the FBI and Jon Rubinstein leaving HP

Show Notes:

Why Apple uses Chinese labour — not because they're cheap but because they're qualified and immediately available — extra commentary from Daring Fireball

Why Apple cops all the flak for using Chinese labour —and what Apple does about it.

Tim Cook's reaction to Chinese working conditions reports in the media

A typical "Apple should do something" article

Microsoft and the Foxconn mass suicide protest

Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis step down as co-CEOs of Research In Motion — about fucking time!

Apple's Quarterly Results — Analysis by Macworld

Motorola's Quarterly Results — not looking too flash.

Kodak's digital miss-steps — a look at the opportunities Kodak squandered

Megaupload take down

Jon Rubinstein Leaves HP

Lining up For The iPad 2 — My account of buying an iPad 2

Super High Tech Gravity bags

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:52:00 +0000

I recently started recording the Exastential Podcast with John Chidgey, the first episode is live on iTunes for your listening pleasure, you can also grab it from TechDistortion.

In the first episode of the Exastential Podcast we discussed Apple's Education Event, iBooks 2, iBooks Author, Textbooks, the durability of iPads, the iTunes U app and the recent debacle over the iPhone's Silent Switch.

Show Notes:

Jason Snell on iBooks Author and Publishers

Lex Friedman on iBooks Author's EULA

David Smith on iBooks Author's EULA

Removing the iBooks Author Lion restriction

Glenn Fleishman on Textbooks

Serenity Caldwell on iBooks Author

Andy Ihnatko's views on the Silent switch

Further views from Andy on the Silent Switch

TechDistortion on the Silent switch

TechDistortion on Shifty Jelly

I also recommend listening to the Macworld Podcast on the Education Event, as well as listening to the Ihnatko Almanac on the Education Event.

I'm Pulling Out of The NaNoWriMo Word Count Race, Here's Why

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 01:14:00 +0000

This year I decided to do something stupid and participate in National Novel Writing Month, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days — that's an average of 1,667 words per day for the whole of November. The overarching aim of NaNoWriMo is to get people to seriously sit down and write that novel they've always dreamed of writing.

I've wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo ever since I first heard of it on Macworld about two or three years ago. It sounded like a lot of fun and a great motivator to write down the story that I've had bouncing around in my head for the best part of 10 years. I knew that it would be tough and I would have to write what was for me an unprecedented volume of words — the most I've ever written in a single document is a little over 3,000 words. Call me crazy because I am, I decided that this year was the year to do it.

My first week of NaNoWriMo went rather well, I missed the daily word count target of 1,667 words on a few occasions but I was actually applying myself and writing a novel. I had all the major plot points and characters developed in my mind so I was able to launch straight in, I never got stuck on what had to happen next and I never lost sight of where I was going because I had it all planned out in my head.

But by the first weekend I was starting to wear out. I was 3,000 words behind where I should have been by that point so I spent the entire weekend playing catch up. By Sunday afternoon I was over it, I was 6,000 words and four chapters into my story, which had become mired in exposition. My characters — all of which are supposed to have their own personalities — all sounded exactly the same. I was getting bored reading my work back and I was even getting bored just writing it.

The problem is that I am writing towards a specific word count and I have lots of experience working towards a word count, I spent five years of high school writing essays to meet specific word counts. As such, I was falling back on all the dirty tricks I learnt in school to get that word count up. My sentences were bulked up with words I didn't need and exposition was being told through character dialogue to pack in more words. I spent pages and pages with two characters explaining something when I could have done it myself in a paragraph or two.

The aim of writing is to convey a message, it's a form of communication and communication is all about getting ideas across quickly and effectively. It is not desirable to spend forever getting your message across, be concise, be succinct, communicate the idea as effectively as possible. The word count was not working in my favour so I decided to change tact.

Last Monday I skipped ahead to a much later part in the story and started writing. This was a part that was very clear in my mind, I knew exactly what happened and who was involved. In just a little over 1,000 words I had established two major characters, setup an entire complex and bitter history between them and most importantly, it was an exciting read. That little experiment worked out so well that I continued writing the stuff that I wanted to write and not the stuff that I had to write for the next few days. I was powering through the story and reaching — sometimes even exceeding — the daily word count target, all without excessive padding.

But last night after three successive days of solid writing I was burned out. I had reached 15,000 words and I was exhausted. The pace of NaNoWriMo is relentless, there's no opportunity for a break unless you put in the hard yards and write three days worth of words in one night, like my writing buddy @alexkidman has been doing. If you take a day off you must pay for it either way, write more words in advance or write more words later. Last night I decided I needed a break and stopped at 15,550 words, I would pay for the break later.

Or would I?

As I lay awake in the middle of the night I did some rationalising. In two weeks I had written 15,000 words, not a bad effort but I can only say that I'm proud of about a third of what I written so far. I really wasn't enjoying spending my nights slogging through to reach the next 1,600 words and if my goal is to write a novel, I'm really not writing the novel I want to write.

So this is my plan, I am pulling out of the NaNoWriMo word count race but I will continue working on my novel. The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to get people off their arse and do some writing, so I will still be continuing in the sprit of the event. I will plan out my novel end to end, flesh out my characters on paper, put what I've written to one side and start a second draft.

Remember kids, in the face of failure simply redefine the terms of success. These last two weeks have not been a waste of time and effort. I've learnt a lot about what I am capable of and what I need to improve on. I have not been defeated, in fact I have been inspired and will now go on to make something great.

Disastrous Camping

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:56:00 +0000

Yesterday I left with my grandfather and one of his friends on a long planned camping trip to Lake Acraman in the state's mid-north. We went up through the Gawler Ranges to Yardea Station where we got onto a track in the station that would take us up to the Southern shore of the lake.

We got to the lake, set up camp and cooked tea. After the sun set we could see flashes out to the North-West. A lightning storm was heading South in the distance, it was going to miss us but we were concerned about heavy rain washing out the track.

We started packing up with the intention of staying overnight. The bulk of the storm was going to miss us and if we did get stuck we had enough supplies to last us a week. Or we did until the water container split open spilling all our drinking water in the back of the car.

So that decided it, we packed everything up and at 9 PM we headed back to the homestead.

I wasn't too worried about the lightning or rain, I was more concerned about driving back on an overgrown track in the dark through wombat country. We took it slowly, I helped my grandfather navigate the track and keep an eye out for hazards.

By 9:30 PM the storm had stretched from the North-West down South and was curving in front of us to the East. It wasn't long before we had lightning on all sides. Lightning to the left, lightning to the right, lighting behind us and lightning in front of us. Although the strikes looked close the storm was still very distant, we couldn't hear any thunder.

It was very eerie driving though the scrub, the sky was totally black, we couldn't see anything outside the headlights and the lightning strikes were becoming increasingly frequent and somehow more vicious. I've never been anywhere so completely dark, apart from lightning strikes the headlights were the only source of light for miles.

The parts of the track that we were concerned with were mostly closer to the lake. We had to drive through a dried up swamp and dodge numerous wombat holes. Once we cleared the more dicy parts of the track we relaxed a bit. We weren't having any trouble finding the track and it still hadn't rained. We were confident we could make it back to Yardea in one piece.

At 10 PM we approached a creek, the whole passenger side of the car suddenly dropped and we fell into a very deep concealed ditch. My grandfather had seen the ditch but by the time he did it was too late, we were stuck.

I climbed out of the front passenger window to see how badly stuck we were, all four tires were touching the ground but the passenger tires were on top of sand and the driver tires were only just touching the ground.

To add insult to injury it started raining quite heavily. We waited in the car hoping that the rain would pass but as the minutes went by we prepared to spend the night in the car, sleeping at rather odd angles.

The main concern at that time was how long the rain would last. If it continued raining heavily the creek could fill with water and wash us out. Or the sand under the passenger wheels could turn to mud making it harder to drive out.

After half an hour the rain stopped, we clambered out of the car to dig ourselves free. We dug more sand into the ditch and dug the bank out from underneath the car to give the diffs and the rear bumper enough clearance.

My grandfather climbed back into the car and tried driving out, the car didn't move an inch. We checked the wheels and found that they weren't even spinning, the car wasn't in gear. So he changed out of low-range 4WD to high-range 4WD to get it in gear and drove out no problems.

So we all jumped back in the car and continued down the track.

The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful, some wombats ran out in front of the car, we got stuck behind some dopey sheep and lost traction in water logged parts of the track. We finally arrived at Yardea homestead at 12:30 AM, unpacked our swags and — feeling that it would be rude to wake the station owner — camped under the verandah.

By this time the storm had passed leaving still, hot, muggy weather behind. All of us had trouble going to sleep and it wasn't long before we were plagued by mosquitoes.

My grandfather and I decided to sleep out in the open where it was cooler and the breeze would keep most of the mosquitoes away. My grandfather's friend stayed under the verandah as the mattress in his swag was too thin to sleep on the rocky ground.

We got a decent two hours worth of sleep before a second storm front rolled in and dumped a heap of rain on us. I woke up at 5 am before the rain got heavy and threw the canvas over myself and zipped up the swag to weather the storm. The swag canvas is water resistant but rain got in through the zip I was on a bit of a downhill slope so water pooled at the end of the swag and drained through the zip.

The storm front passed but I was too tired to get up and move the swag so I went back to sleep. An hour later we got another dump of rain, this time the rain soaked through the canvas and made my sheets damp.

We got up before sunrise, had breakfast, packed up and told the station owner what happened to us before heading home.

It's safe to say that this camping trip was a complete disaster but at least we got out of it okay.

Steve Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:54:00 +0000

I teared up while writing this message to rememberingsteve@apple.com, goodbye Steve, I will miss you.

Many thanks to Steve Jobs, a great man behind an amazing company with wonderful products that are a joy to use every day.

I am saddened by Steve's death but I know that his amazing life will serve as inspiration to us all. His drive and determination even in the face of terminal illness is something to aspire to.

Many thanks to everyone who gave Steve an extra seven years of life, he used them well.

My final thoughts go to Steve's family and friends, we may have lost a great leader, a visionary pioneer of the modern tech industry but they lost a friend, partner and father.

Sent from my iPhone.

Rant: An Email From Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:27:00 +0000

This is an email I received from Facebook this morning.

Image source: Flickr

OH REALLY FACEBOOK?! Missed some popular stories did I? Someone liked someone else's status did they? I can't wait to login to find out what variation of "hahahahaha LOL" was left as a comment on that status. And what's this? PEOPLE HAVE BEEN USING FACEBOOK? HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED THAT?!

Seriously, how can somebody liking somebody's status be a "popular story"? "Ooo, Person A liked Person B's status, did you see that?"

What? Was there something controversial about Person A liking Person B's status? Is this out of character? Is it rare for Person A to like anything at all? So if Person A likes something that means it must be significant right? Wow, I really must find out what Person A liked so I can go buy/watch/listen/do whatever it is like the foolish sheep that I am.

An Open Message to Apple

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:08:00 +0000

Image source: Flickr

Image text:

"Dear Apple, I'd just like to draw your attention to an inconsistency in the iPhone's user interface. If you could pass the following on to the iOS GUI team that would be greatly appreciated. MOVE THE FUCKING CANCEL BUTTON Hugs and kisses, iPhone users."

Gallery: Computer Setup

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:00:00 +0000

This is my computer setup. From left to right: Xbox 360 Slim, PowerBook G4, generic full HD TV, Cinema HD Display, Mac mini and a MacBook Pro.

Image source: Flickr

Image source: 1, 2, 3

My main computer is the Mac mini hooked up to a 23" Cinema HD Display. I currently have three hard drives connected to the Mac mini, two Western Digital 1 TB hard drives sit behind the display. The third hard drive is a 500 GB Seagate drive inside the model of the Back to The Future III DeLorean, for Time Machine backups naturally.

I have a pair of bar mats that I use as a mouse pad and palm rest. I've found the bar mat makes a great tracking surface, my Logitech MX1100 wireless mouse glides smoothly across the mat. I also have a Magic Trackpad on the left hand side of the Wireless Aluminium Keyboard.

I also have a pair of Logitech USB powered speakers, the built-in speaker on the Mac mini sucks.

When I bought the Xbox 360 my plan was to hook it up to the Cinema Display. Unfortunately the old Cinema Display doesn't support devices connected via HDMI to DVI adapters so I had to buy a cheap HDTV, which can also double as a second display for the Mac mini, PowerBook G4 or MacBook Pro.

The Xbox 360 is connected to the HDTV via HDMI cable but the sound is routed through my Mac mini (because the TV's speakers suck as well).

I also keep my trusty PowerBook G4 handy, it handles all my music.

My MacBook Pro recently underwent an upgrade. I swapped out the stock hard drive and optical drive for two 750 GB hard drives giving it 1.5 TB of internal storage. I also bumped up the RAM to 8 GB.

Previous incarnations of my setup:

Image source: Flickr

The above is my setup after I bought my Mac mini and below is my PowerBook G4 hooked up to the Cinema Display.

Image source: Flickr

Specs

Mac mini: Early 2009, 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB RAM, 120 HDD, 8x Dual Layer SuperDrive, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU with 256 MB VRAM shared with main RAM, 5x USB 2.0 ports, Firewire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort, Mini DVI out, Bluetooth and 802.11n wireless networking. Currently running Mac OS X 10.6.7 Snow Leopard.

MacBook Pro: Late 2008, 2.66 GHz Core 2 duo, 8 GB RAM, 2x 750 GB 7200 rpm HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M GPU with 265 MB VRAM shared with main RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with 512 MB VRAM, 2x USB 2.0 ports, Firewire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, Mini DisplayPort out, Bluetooth and 802.11n wireless networking. Currently running Mac OS X 10.6.7 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion DP3 and Windows 7 Home Premium.

PowerBook G4: Late 2005, 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD, 8x Dual Layer SuperDrive, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128 MB VRAM 2x USB 2.0 ports, Firewire 800, Firewire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, DVI, S-Video out, Bluetooth and 802.11g wireless networking. Currently running Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard.

Photo: Mallee Fowl Nest

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 May 2011 10:22:00 +0000

Last August I posted photos of a Mallee Fowl tending his nest. My grandfather and I found him digging away while we were checking the nests in Lake Gilles Conservation Park.

Image source: Flickr

The photos were taken in 2008, I hadn't had a chance to visit the nest until a few weeks ago when I was on holidays. I didn't see the Mallee Fowl this time — it is rare to see them — but his nest is still active.

Image source: Flickr

The leaf litter had been recently cleared from the area and piled onto the nest. It's hard to say whether there are eggs inside the nest but the main thing is that the Mallee Fowl is still around and hasn't been taken by foxes. As long as 1080 poison baiting is kept up the Mallee Fowl population will be able to recover.

Gallery: Green Caterpillar

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 May 2011 08:14:00 +0000

I found this little fella on the verandah at my grandparents' house. I've no idea what that long black thing sticking out at the end is.

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Gallery: Salt Lake Spider

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 May 2011 09:20:00 +0000

While on holiday last week I went for a walk across Lake Gilles with my grandfather. We spotted this spider walking across the mud.

A spider walking across Lake Gilles Image source: Flickr

These spiders dig burrows out in the mud rather like a trapdoor spider. Though they don't wait for prey to come past their burrows to grab them, they are active hunters.

I was able to get quite close to this one without disturbing it but my grandfather decided to poke it with a stick to see where it's burrow was. The spider didn't like being poked so it reared up on it's back legs and waved it's front legs in the air.

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

This is The 100th Post

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is the 100th post and to mark this momentous occasion I've built a collection of my favourite photos. Photos that have appeared on this very blog over the last few months and to kick things off, some invertebrates!

This photo of an Orb Web Spider climbing a tree is a particular favourite, I just love the contrast. The spider so close in the foreground and the paddock sweeping off into the distance.

Image source: Flickr

A pair of beetles mating on top of Yarranna Hill. The very top of this hill was pretty much swarming with these things. I had to duck to avoid them as they flew around. Again, I love the contrast created by the shallow depth of field.

Image source: Flickr

A Christmas Beetle, so named because they emerge from the ground in big numbers around Christmas time. This one was dead so I had all day to take the perfect photo. It's a very pretty beetle.

Image source: Flickr

Up next, some Panoramas! This is my favourite panorama, taken recently at Myponga Beach. That's my grandfather standing in the foreground.

Image source: Flickr (Fullsize)

Back at Yarranna Hill again, this is the view that greeted us from our campsite early in the morning. The rocks really shone in the rising sunlight.

Image source: Flickr (Fullsize)

Another one from Myponga, this time overlooking the Myponga Reservoir. We had pretty good rains that year so the reservoir was full of beautiful blue water.

Image source: Flickr (Fullsize)

A panorama of the high rise apartments at Glenelg. Taken as the sun was setting.

Image source: Flickr (Fullsize)

That just about wraps it up for panoramas, and now to one of the stranger things you'll find while travelling in South Australia's Riverland, a Shoe Tree.

Image source: Flickr

But that's not the only thing you'll find while travelling around South Australia, how about a School Bus?

Image source: Flickr

While you're looking at school buses and shoe trees, you might want to keep an eye out for local wild life.

This is a Mallee Fowl, my grandfather monitors the nests around his farm. One afternoon I went to check some active nests with him and we were lucky enough to see a male Mallee Fowl tending his nest.

Image source: Flickr

Another animal that you might be lucky enough to see is a Bearded Dragon. This one was sunning himself on a pile of gravel. Bearded Dragons can change their colour from grey to yellow to indimidate rival males.

Image source: Flickr

In addition to posting heaps of photos, I've also done the occasional opinion piece and review, here are four of my favourites.

For Christmas I gifted myself a hard drive — not just any hard drive — a hard drive inside a scale model of the Back to The Future III DeLorean.

First Impressions: Flash Rods DeLorean Hard Drive

On November 22, 10 AM PST, Apple made iOS 4.2 available to the public. The long awaited update brings Multitasking to the iPad, along with Folders, unified email inbox, Game Center support, AirPlay and AirPrint. But this isn't a News Post, this is a Rant Post. The iOS 4.2 update has one very handy feature for iPad users which bizarrely enough is a very stupid new feature for iPhone users.

Rant: iPhone Volume And Brightness Controls

Last Friday, Apple opened the virtual doors of the Mac App Store; much of the look, feel and function of the Mac App Store follows the iOS App Store but after spending a week browsing the Mac App Store I've noticed a few things that really set the Mac App Store apart from the iOS App Store.

Opinion: App Store vs App Store

"We've got this amazing new interface for iPhoto, oh my god it's sooo good. It's crammed full of multitouch awesomeness and look at that, when you swipe it turns around! Oh and it's smart, iPhoto uses magic to organise the photos for you! You don't have to do any work, just click "Buy Book" and you're done. It's that easy. Did I mention it looks amazing? Isn't this sexy? I just want to go to bed with it and lick it. Mmm, so tasty."

Review: iPhoto '11 Calendars

Thank you ladies and gentlemen for joining me in this 100th post extravaganza! The blog will be going on hiatus until May, upon return it will have a once a week posting schedule instead of the current three posts a week. See you then!

News: Dynamic Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:40:00 +0000

The Blogger team recently announced a public preview of Dynamic Templates. The templates are entirely built using the latest HTML5, AJAX and CSS3 technologies to create a stunning browsing experience.

Each of the Dynamic Templates — Flipcard, Mosaic, Sidebar, Snapshot and Timeslide — feature smooth animations, infinite scrolling, optimised code for a fast browsing experience and interactivity that engages the reader without allowing the content to become lost.

The Templates are compatible with the latest generation of web browsers; Safari 5, Firefox 4, Google Chrome, IE9 and Opera 10. To enable Dynamic Templates on your blog make sure that full feeds are enabled, to view the new Dynamic Templates just add /view to the end of any Blogger URL, e.g. http://clinton1550.blogspot.com/view

Left: Sidebar View. Right: Snapshot View.

Left: Flipcard View. Right: Blog Post.

My favourite views are Sidebar and Flipcard. Mosaic looks great, particularly if the blog has lots of photos but there are a few bugs in the new templates. Image previews don't load properly when the original image is something other than 4:3. Most 4:3 photos load properly but 3:2, 16:9 and especially ultra-wide panoramas look horribly pixilated.

Google is collecting feedback for the new templates, post suggestions, comment on general awesomeness and minor bugs. They'd be happy to know what you think.

Panorama: Myponga Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:24:00 +0000

A 180º Panorama of Myponga Beach Image source: Flickr (Fullsize)

Image source: 1, 2, 3

Lining up For The iPad 2

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Today is the Australian launch of the iPad 2, online orders started at 1 am AEDT and retailers started selling at 5 pm local time. Online orders had a wait of 2-3 weeks so I opted to line up outside JB Hi-Fi, this is what it's like to queue for an iPad 2.

4:38 pm: Get in car, drive to JB Hi-Fi

4:49 pm: Stop at bank on the way to JB Hi-Fi

4:59 pm: Line up outside JB Hi-Fi

5:00 pm: iPad 2 goes on sale, people are let in two at a time to buy iPads

5:03 pm: Wait in queue, chat to @skyhawkmatthew on Twitter

5:08 pm: Still waiting in queue, about 20 people ahead of me

5:12 pm: Still waiting. Regular JB customers are confused as to why there is a lineup to get inside.

5:16 pm: Now chatting with @johnchidgey and @skyhawkmatthew on Twitter, still waiting

5:21 pm: Finally get to lean against a wall while I wait

5:33 pm: Still waiting

5:40 pm: Staff member comes out and says "Sorry guys, we are completely sold out." Half the line storms off in a huff.

5:41 pm: With the line gone all remaining customers are let in to place orders

5:45 pm: Now the proud owner of a Black Leather Smart Cover, iPad Camera Connection Kit and 30-pin Dock Connector to HDMI adapter. Black 64 GB Wi-Fi iPad is on order.

So after waiting a grand total of 45 minutes I left with a few accessories but no iPad. I wouldn't say that it was a complete waste of time, the first people in line had been there since 3 pm, a 45 minute wait to leave with a few accessories wasn't so bad.

The people who stormed off are the real losers here, they left well and truly empty-handed.

One advantage of placing an order through JB and not the Apple Online Store is that when my iPad 2 does arrive, I won't get dicked around by couriers. I can drop into JB during my lunch break and pick it up. The shipping times listed on the Apple Store have jumped from 2-3 weeks to 3-4 weeks, hopefully mine arrives sooner.

Photo: Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 08:49:00 +0000

On the 19th of March the Moon was the closest it's been to the Earth for 20 years. It appeared 14% bigger and 30% brighter than usual.

The "Super Moon" on Saturday night. Image source: Flickr

Full Moon taken July 2010. Image source: Flickr

The Flickr blog showcases some of the more speccie photos of the Super Moon. The two that I took show up the size difference really well.

Gallery: Granite Boulders

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Thousands of years or erosion by wind and rain have produced some pretty interesting rocks on Corrobinnie Hill. The underside erodes much faster than the top resulting in domes, overhangs and caves.

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Gallery: The "Summit" of Corrobinnie Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:44:00 +0000

Sitting atop Corrobinnie Hill is a very, very large granite rock. Climb to the top to see the spectacular views.

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Image source: Flickr

Gallery: Views From Corrobinnie Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Corrobinnie Hill is a large granite outcrop that rises out of the sandhills in Pinkawillinie. There is much to see from the top of the hill, the scrubland, sandhills and farmland stretches out for miles. The land surrounding the hill is largely flat so it is possible to things that are well over the horizon.

Caralue Bluff as seen from Corrobinnie Hill. Image source: 1, 2, 3

Peella Rocks as seen from Corrobinnie Hill. Image source: 1, 2, 3

Mount Wudinna as seen from Corrobinnie Hill. Image source: 1, 2, 3

Panorama: Corrobinnie Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:26:00 +0000

A 360º panorama showing the stunning view from the top of Corrobinnie Hill.

Image source: Flickr (Fullsize)

Image source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Gallery: Skull Camp Tanks

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:20:00 +0000

During the late 19th Century, Rain Sheds were built along South Australian stock routes to provide water for stock as they were moved throughout the state's mid-north. The Rain Sheds are low structures made of corrugated iron sheets that are angled inwards to a gutter. The gutter flows water into tanks that are partially buried underground.

Image source: Flickr

The Rain Shed at Skull Camp Tanks still stands but is in need of repair. The timber used to hold the roof up has rotted, causing one section to collapse. The rest of the site has been vandalised with graffiti and bullet holes.

Image source: 1, 2

Image source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Gallery: Shoe Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:56:00 +0000

A Shoe Tree on the Burra-Morgan Road Image source: Flickr

Image source: 1, 2

Image source: Flickr

Photo: Bearded Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:03:00 +0000

A Bearded Dragon. Held by my grandfather. Image source: Flickr