Random thoughts of Ebenezer

Wollongong Ride - Sponsor me!

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Ubuntu Karmic Koala

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:30:00 +0000

I have been installing the beta of Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" on an external USB disk. Ubuntu is a version of the open source (i.e. free) operating system Linux. It is very usable, and runs happily on old machines that struggle to run Windows. Best of all, it boots happily from an external disk, so I can plug my disk into any machine and I have "my" PC back again.

There are still a couple of bugs in the 9.10 beta, but the full release version comes out this week.

"Swine-flu" vestments for clergy

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:55:00 +0000

I wonder if they will be discussing this at the Diocese of Sydney's synod this week.

"The Church of England has announced that following its introduction of special swine flu prayers, new clergy vestments are now available in case of a further outbreak of the deadly virus."

Read the article at Ship of Fools.

Hostels Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:42:00 +0000

Here are some photos from the Terraces reunion. Things have changed a bit in 20 years, but not that much. Thanks very much to the current residents at The Terraces for being so kind as to let us see how things look now.

Note the phone hole is gone, and for the record I was never part of the group who climbed through to next door in the middle of the night to watch TV. The kitchens have much more storage space than when we lived there, and all the bathrooms have been refurbished. The shade cloth out the back of 64-66 is great.

Magpie Season

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Spring has arrived. I was swooped in Leichhardt this morning while cycling to work.

Back to Barneys

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:16:00 +0000

On Sunday it was the 150th anniversary of St Barnabas Broadway. The City of Sydney were kind enough to donate the use of City Recital Hall (in Angel Place) on Sunday for a get together of past and present Barneys members.

While it was great to see so many people we haven't seen for years, it was also inspiring to hear about the new church building.

There were various reunions over the weekend. I went to a reunion for the St Barnabas Terraces ("Hostels" in my day). Some things are just as they were 20 years ago (yes it really is that long), like the vines between #76 and #78, while some things are new and improved (e.g. kitchens in #80)!

Praying?

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Looking for something to pray for? Please pray for Jeremy and his family. Prayer points here. We have a mighty god who can do mighty things.

Television

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:05:00 +0000

It's been a while between posts, but that's because I have been too busy watching television:

Flight of the Conchords - A fantastic show from HBO about a couple of Kiwi musicians trying to make it in New York. Mondays at 21:00 on SBS1.
Masterchef Australia - At first I thought this would be more boring reality TV, but the quality has been really good. The editing is slick, and the content engrossing. Well done tonight Julie. Nightly on Ten.
The Chaser's War on Everything - To be fair, I think The Chaser has been a bit weak this season, but I actually thought the "Make a Realistic Wish" sketch was pretty funny. Wednesdays at 21:00 on ABC1.

Geocaching

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:55:00 +0000

It's been a while between caches, but on the advice of a friend of Stinker we headed out from Tamworth and found Pride and Prejudice (near Uralla).

Open Street Map

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:40:00 +0000

While in Tamworth I did a bit more survey work for Open Street Map. I suspect the map of Tamworth has a bit over 50% of streets mapped now.

Feedmap?

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:43:00 +0000

I removed my link to feedmap.net today. It used to provide links to blogs geographically close to yours, along with a nice map. For a while now it has been saying that my blog is in The Sound in Wales, and the clickable map is gone.

GeoURL provides a similar capability.

Sydney cycle routes

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:03:00 +0000

I have been doing some work on the Open Street Map Wiki to document the state of cycle routes in Sydney.

Sydney Cycle Routes

The idea is to show the level of completeness of the OSM map, and give a link to the map (and relation where they exist).

(Sydney Cycle Map)

Cycling

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:03:00 +0000

After planning a new bike for a long time my wife was kind enough to buy me a Trek 7.2 FX for my birthday recently. I have only managed a few rides, but so far it's a great bike. I look forward to being a cyclist again.

Australian suburbs on Open Street Map

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:46:00 +0000

After weeks of preparation the import of Australian suburb boundaries into Open Street Map is now under way. Thanks to the helpful people at the Australia Bureau of Statistics who made the data available and to Franc for persevering with it.

See a sample map for Summer Hill. The suburb boundaries are the light dotted lines.

Viola Jokes

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:45:00 +0000

After the SMH ran a few viola jokes in Column 8 last week a colleague sent me this link.

It's a bunch of viola jokes collated by Jeff Bigler.

A sample:

Q: How do you keep your violin from getting stolen?
A: Put it in a viola case.

CMS Summer School

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:11:00 +0000

OK, it was a few weeks ago now, but I think it's worth posting that we all had a great time at CMS Summer School in Katoomba in January. I enjoyed the talks by Dr William Philip, but I think I probably got the most out of the missionary info sessions.

Of course I did some mapping in Blackheath and Medlow Bath while I was in town.

Summer School leaves your afternoons free to explore the Blue Mountains, so I got a chance to do some walking along the Pope's Glen track in Blackheath to Govett's Leap. The views at Govett's Leap are quite breathtaking.

Hey Man, You Got A Second So I Can Fire You?

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:06:00 +0000

A rather apt story from The Onion this week: Hey Man, You Got A Second So I Can Fire You?

How are we doing today? How we doin'? Great, great. You're looking good. Love the shirt. Let me guess: Christmas present? Knew it. Great. Hey man, whenever you get a sec—and it's no biggie—I was hoping you could just pop on over to my office real quick so I can fire you.

Automatic bacon dispenser? [PHOTO]

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:35:00 +0000

Great creative sign customisation.

read more | digg story

Nelson Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:41:00 +0000

Last week saw us take a relaxing holiday in lovely Nelson Bay. Plenty of bush walking (the photo is of a wild orchid we saw in Tomaree National Park), beaches, and spending time with our family. Port Stephens really is a nice part of the world.

David I hope you get paid

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:59:00 +0000

David Thorne, I was horrified to see all these web sites that have ripped of your artwork. It is not clear whether they are publishing a copy of your spider drawing, or the actual drawing, but I do note that most sites don't attribute you as the author. IANAL but you should seriously get yourself a lawyer.

Netbeans turns 10!

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:12:00 +0000

Netbeans (everyone's favourite Java IDE) is now 10 years old! Amazing.

(A Java IDE is an Integrated Development Environment. Basically Netbeans is the thing I use to write, test and debug Java projects.)

I started using Netbeans when I started on Maprequest (an open source project for producing georeferenced maps for Ozi Explorer from web based maps). Now I fight on with Netbeans in an Eclipse heavy environment at work.

I think one of the best things about Netbeans is its support for Maven 2 projects. In an environment where the standard build system is Maven 2 (and where the continuous integration platform uses Maven 2) it's good to be able to have real Maven running inside Netbeans. That way you know that what you have running in your IDE is the same as what your continuous integration is going to run.

I try to be polite, but it's hard not to boast about Netbeans' great svn support when talking to people struggling with Eclipse. It's great that ClearCase support is back again too!

Top Gear Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:28:00 +0000

OK I was sceptical at first. Could SBS's Top Gear Australia possibly come close to the "real" Top Gear?

I've got to admit: tonight's was quite good. Using Holden Astras for lawn bowls was a stroke of genius. (You really need to see this to fully understand.)

Part of the problem with the show is that you can't help but compare it to the original. In fact they have used a number of elements of the original, but amazingly the show doesn't fell too much like a copy. Keep up the good work.

iPhone Left In Hot Car For Three Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:19:00 +0000

Another great story from The Onion.

"This normally peaceful suburban town is still reeling following the news Monday that a local resident, whose name is being withheld by police pending a full investigation, left an iPhone unattended for more than three hours in a car parked in the hot sun."

Read the full story:
Police: iPhone Left In Hot Car For Three Hours

Moving

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:56:00 +0000

It's amazing how much I needed a fax machine in the process of moving house. I think the last time I sent a fax was probably .... last time I moved house.

Thanks a lot to all the people who have been praying for us, and who helped us move. (GeoURL updated.)

Google Street View

noreply@blogger.com (Eb) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:28:00 +0000

Google Street View has been turned on for Sydney. This is where you can get a photo of what the street looks like. It so happens that I was snapped by the camera while walking up a street in Ashfield one afternoon, so I checked to see if it is online:

Here

View Larger Map

And here

View Larger Map