yogi at large

Awesome News

2011-01-30T22:02:00.000+11:00

CMWC WARSAW pre event is from BERLIN here is the farcebook account.
Myself, well, i have my ticket already.. Europe here I come.

Bike Valet Parking

2011-01-17T13:36:00.000+11:00

Bike Valet Parking is becoming a monster indeed. Very popular and almost expected at many places. Just recently we have been running BVP a the Sydney festival Opening night and various Domain concerts.

BVP has also been held at Newtown Festival and various 'eco' fairs across Sydney as well as many other events and things to do. BVP featured at the Bicycle Film Festival street fair and was truly missed at the movie venues

BFF - Sunny Day Street Fair from Skeleton Key on Vimeo.

Bike Valet Parking is not a new thing here in Sydney. Infact we have won awards and nominations for awards

*Finalist* Environmental Business - City of Sydney Business Awards 2009

*Winner* Special Achievement Award by a Bicycling Organisation - The Cycling Promotion Fund Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards 2010

So what is Bike Valet Parking ?

Bike valet parking is like a coat check for bicycles. Patrons are issued claim checks in exchange for their bikes and our staff guard them in a secure corral

you can find more information on BVP at the BikeSydney website

I have noticed that there are many many more bikes on our streets , cycleways and paths. this is a great thing as far as I can tell. It makes our fantastic city of Sydney a lot more social and friendly and also cosmopolitan too. The new cycleway near Taylor Square has made a massive impact by making the whole area feel so much "MORE" as in nice and more nice.

Mandatory Helmet Laws are still a debacle. With some stats stating how bad they are and others how good. No matter your perspective or bias you will find statistics to suit your message. Although I stand firmly against MHL there will be situations where I would still choose to wear one.. Also I think my kids should wear them too.

With the rise of bikes in public areas you will see a lot of ladies bikes being ridden by stylish ladies of all ages. There is a massive growth in what is called cycle chic. there are a few local sites around and I do not have much to say about them other than they are not really bike sites but mearly a fashion accessory concept blog. One site does differ in my eye. because they claim to love their bikes and want to ride more and do more picnics and just have fun. Well done www.featherbrigade.blogspot.com/ I commend you on your efforts and your vibe and enthusiasm. While other local cycle chic blogs seem a tad try hard and very very niche. you do not claim to be something else. Keep it up.

Recently, I was fishing with my kid on the glorious Sydney Harbour when I got a call to do some work. To cut a long story short. I ended up driving Public Enemy (wiki link not band) about for 3 days. I was the guy who saw them off the place and then every time they went someplace in Sydney including lugging their back line and their bags. It was a great gig and I met some interesting people. I got on quite well with a few of the guys but mainly Eric from S1W. I had heard of Public Enemy (since 1982) but I really had no idea how much influence they actually had. Time over Matter I guess.

I was at the concert and I was really impressed. The crowd was awesome and the show was a great vibe. The metro was a great venue too. I noticed that ACDC was one of the tracks they used to create their vibe. Funny enough. I was playing ACDC in the van when I picked them up (nice coincidence ). Watching these guys was inspiring . They where on the FEAR OF A BLACK NATION tour. Thanks guys. all 14 of you.

Last year I met a few guys riding fixed gears from Sydney to Melbourne. They where called Fat Out Fixed. I helped them out for a few days and a month b4 Christmas I got in the mail a brand new steel frame and fork from them. Thank you Patrick. I will be building up the track frame over the next month.

CMWC 2010 is over and I can tell you having a skype meeting every week and doing the website was not really as easy as it could have been. This is not a complaint about any one but more of 'wow, what a task, and I am glad it is over' CMWC 2011 is looking like up to be a 'big' one indeed. It will be in Warsaw. I have my ticket already.

HIPSTERS. who the hell is a hipster anyway? I can tell you a hipster will deny being one with deep conviction. I think I am one ... sort of anyway. Generally this label is hated by anyone on the receiving end of it. But seriously. If you wear tight tight jeans and look mod like and would fit into a design conference, ride without any brakes or a helmet and are new to cycling.. Your a HIPSTER.
If your new to cycling wear a helmet and have brakes and ride and walk on the pavement you are not. Not even if you are wearing tight jeans and a loose hi-glow WHAM tee shirt.
Something that urked me heavily the other day was some dude who took his fixie and made it single speed. It had a front brake but no back brake... come on now... your face is ok... NOW... get a brake so it stays that way.

Now earlier in this post I mentioned cycle chic and now hipsters. The difference is huge. One is about cycling and one is about a fad.... if you understand this next image your on my wavelength. This was designed by HOUSE OF PISTARD . Pistard is a french word meaning essentially 'a track rider' most hipsters will not ride in the rain or on the track. Those of you who do... WELCOME!

2011-01-17T12:18:00.000+11:00

It has been a busy year with bikes in mind. A lot of new events have shown some light from the fall from grace of larger and more common types of cycle events. Bike polo is common place and rides for no reason other than hang out on a Sunday.

Recently my Sydney BFF friends where hosting goldsprints for a neat combined gallery exhibit and asked me for help to just do seat height and stuff as we went. I went along on a few Thursday nights when I was either not sick or on daddy duty.
I was on the opening night door list and I did not even know it. I had a great night there.

Smokin Joe the local BMA president made the goldspint finals. Joe is keen on his new idea of a BBCA or a Bearded Bicycle Courier Association. So I went to spotlight and spent seven bucks and made a bunch of beards. We looked great and made a lot of people smile and supported or mate Joe.

Joe's next big adventure is to go to CMWC in Guatemala. This year I have had the opportunity to be the beg monkey for this years event. It has been no easy road being far from the event and never going. Working with this group definitely had it's ups and downs and funny highs and arguable lows.

Meanwhile locally bike lanes have been in the media ups down and sideways too for that matter. All I can add is I am glad they are finally being in our community. The project is still being built and has many haters of the unfinished product. They just wont even find out if it works or not. Just complain of how it fails and it still being constructed.

I have used the contentious bike lanes in question and I felt really good, not because of the spite of Alan Jones but because I felt like I had a spot that was for bikes. I have seen many toobs of busy bike-ways but this was not anything like that.

Welcome to the 20th Century Sydney, even if it is the 21st. I have seen a bike lane in Sydney appear and be useful and then get painted over forever because of IPEC road changes. This was just ultimate bad vibe (man).

Closer to home , my health has been havoc, stopping me from riding and then competing and then leaving me with a week long migraine that let to the final blow. Putting my back out by picking up my kid for a hug.

How mortal we are...

This week i managed to pull together 2 websites and handle a deal for a friend saving him a wad. Re rented NIKITA but for some reason it is just not the same and I am sure the movie I saw this week was different to the original. Particularly the part where she tries to prove she is not worth letting go when she first goes to work against Greenpeace (the french spy section).
Of course the cleaner as THE CLEANER.

Chill and Go re-release. Australia

2010-11-02T14:31:00.000+11:00

Just how cool is this vid? This is the second incarnation of this video I think I prefer the first. I assume it was for the soundtrack used.

So here for your enjoyment

Mexico Fixed presents Chill and Go

CHILL.AND.GO.2 / NIKE / MEXICO FIXED from Films Are Fake on Vimeo.

mens bike fashion SUCKS

2010-10-05T12:49:00.006+11:00

As much as I like to see girls on bikes... sigh...

What about all the guys who where not Lycra types who rode every day? hell , Bike messengers for one might be smelly and dirty and OUTSIDE and they spawned a whole revolution of style and look and riding styles.

As for clothes and add ons. Wearing next years glasses or shoes was always easy when your in front of the curve... now we (the same front of curve folks) are just hated cause it is now FASHION from what we wore last year.

I would really like to see non-sport cycle fashion evolve from the 'hipster' look for men. right now it is limited...

I was riding in the park yesterday and there was a lady looking ABSOLUTELY stepford styled in pins and darts and a great dress that looked like it was directly out of MAD MEN, she treated her bike very gently of a step and rode off gracefully out styling her male ride partner in look, bike, and actual riding, the guy was dressed as a modern 'hipster' (tight low waist narrow cut jeans with a tee and no helmet)

looking forward to mens fashion MOVING ON already

Dear Diary

2010-08-29T21:23:00.000+10:00

Like a confession, it has been a long time since I blogged. Frankly I feel a bit pulled apart on the net. this means to me probably more than it means to you. I have many ways to put stuff on the web. Blogging is just one of them.

Facebook, the mother of time wasters has also lost my patronage. Twitter I look at and do not really exploit my life or opinion much at all. http://www.seppukoo.com/ was possibly an option but then one of my friends used the service . Frankly it was written in BAD engrish and was a bit embarrassing really even it the general idea is there.

My regular social networks where also not getting the attentions they previously had.
What the hell is going on?

Movies lately are really bad and most stuff is a waste of money.

I do not really know what is going on here but I have found that on-line anyone with no knowledge is an instant expert and definitely knows more than me. Saying that I would like to tell you that I have been in the internet since comic chat was popular I then got onto mIRC that is still going strong. I recently found a frind on facebook whom I used to shat with a lot. We came to the agreement that people communicated the truth not a lot now and that everyone seemed to have very low standards in conversation and desired to see her boobs faster than she could say hello.

http://chatroulette.com/ is exactly that. I went on it a few times and I was just amazed with how many cocks I saw. A few boobs and absolutely no conversation what so ever .. oh there was once when I left a note in front of my cam that said "conversation required". I got one guywho wanted to chat "he asked to see my cock" At least he asked.

I belong to a few bike groups too. Amongst those groups there are plenty of people who wanna be heard, unfortunately most of them like to win any discussion they enter even if they are wrong

2010-08-26T16:35:00.002+10:00

@redsonia , SunnyD wears a Mail Call jersey

also

Just a little thing I have been working on...

http://tinyurl.com/cmwc2010

The net is making the world smaller #VirtualLight

Beer Commercial and retro bikes

2010-08-16T10:55:00.003+10:00

Don't let the Hipster Kids see this... actually they will prolly sell their bikes cheap so do...
what am I saying here?

Wife Swap

2010-07-14T22:56:00.001+10:00

So it seems that I will be at the WIFE SWAP with oh2... and no he is not my wife but I did give him a very sexy gift today . I bet you a dollar that It ends up on his blog... (it is red and white and sexy)

see you there. (I mean here)

speaking of wife swap
I figure the blatant use of sex here is really good. Alas I do not like her wheels much.

this bring me to bike porn. At the ACMC a lady frond of mine gave me a calendar from Nagoya. Ohhh boy was I impressed. here is the sample

you can find this calendar here
http://shop.crankee.me/Love-Wheels-Nagoya-Bicycle-Calendar-2010-001.htm

I did show my calendar to a few of the 'guys' who took photos of my calendar and amongst themselves said a lot of stuff I can just not repeat here.

personally I have a thing for Miss August (Mica). Who by the way has a lot in common with the lady on the bike whose wheels do not thrill me.

What do I mean by wife swap.
well it is really about the bike... but if your into swapping your wife i suggest this site

My first ever Goldsprints

2010-07-13T20:05:00.000+10:00

I found a vid (courtesy of Kym Perfetto ) of me in the Finals of GOLDSPRINTS at CMWC Tokyo.... I look slow next to Brooks but he only just beat me. I came a happy equal 3rd and 4th fastest time. That was my first goldsprints ever.

Brooks spun me out quite a bit as he was on his riollers for 30 minutes before the semi final all the while I was leaning on the wall next to him saying "it is not gonna help you mate" It was obviously freeking him out by the distracted look I was getting from him. He beat me in our final heat.

Goldsprints CMWC Tokyo from kymberly Perfetto on Vimeo.

Gold sprints like a rock concert at Club Asia! announcer, dj, unlikely finalists (Yogi from Australia kept chanting “Old is Gold!!”) and hella resistance on the freakin’ bikes!!! trust me, those guys are killing it. I felt like I could barely move my legs! Got second place for the women’s tho…

Hot Sauce, cheers

2010-07-12T22:20:00.002+10:00

T'waz a good week. Got drunk for the first time in a very long time, quit my job, overdose on chilly sauce.

It has been a long time since I have enjoyed watching a movie. I was struggling with my homophobia watching this one A Single Man : a beautiful feast of fantastic camera angles and style from a very period true time frame. Wordly without being verbose. A real treat to watch with great shots with thought out scenes. The best of which was the packing his briefcase scene.

Previously late in the week I went to town and for once was on the taking end of hospitality. Becks free beer was really great whilst watching Stefan dressed like a Las Vegas MC host a huge and great opening night. Some guys from one of Sydney's many bike riding groups have made The Galleria at Park and George and Pitt. The bios looked a lot like The Fixers, but still had its own unique way..

Hanging from the middle on the inside is a bunch of bikes and scattered about are pictures of riders with a bio. There was bits of bike art to be found everywhere, it was fun to find some other bit of installation. Really the venue obviously just went with this one 'WELL"

This night they were hosting some Goldsprints and free beer. My background could only draw me to this environment like a moth to a flame. I enjoyed watching and screaming in encouragement many guys I knew and many I did not up doing GOLDSPRINTS. Unfortunately I missed SCREAMROLLER

I have never ever raced Goldspints in my home town.. Actaully I have only really done Goldspints once before. I was in a good mood and Rick from Canada was trying to psych me out. He was wearing one of the 'team australia' kit I had managed to get from Rocket Fuel.

I rolled against Rick and stopped pedaling when I got over the line. I really did not expect to see my name on top of the list for the next 5 hours. On the night I got the 4th fastest time and got eliminated by a guy training on rollers for 30 minutes before he spun up a storm against me. Brooks then lost the final to Alex.

People were going off at me and yelling their lungs up at me in encouragement.... Anyway on Thursday night I just wanted to share my joy. I lost my voice for 2 days. I am still hoarse.

On the night it was good to see Smokin' Joe get up and spin for a bottle of Yeger. It was a great top off. Baker still impresses me by taking his feet off the pedals at 3/4of the way and letting Joe win. more info
One lady I managed to coax into spinning a go too. Given her shoes (stiletto boots), this made her ride remarkable.

Then later I turned around and saw I was the last one there. It did not take me long to catch up.

On Friday I went to check the mail. I found that 2 things I nominated to get awards did actually win the categories. I was involved with both of them and was integral in the running of one. The prior week I managed to pull off other minor miracles and produce a map for the Tweed Ride, Sydney. Another great ride.

It is winter and Sydney is alive with bike stuff to do.
pics later

HIPSTER

2010-07-07T19:38:00.001+10:00

to all you HIPSTERS... you probably think this song is about you, your so hipster... ooooo!!!

http://thathipsterporn.tumblr.com

how cool

ohhh Twilight

2010-06-29T23:17:00.002+10:00

so funny, it is not often that I am impressed by anything on youtube. BUT, i have hit paydirt on this one.

Heather is doing a VLOG about being a vamp

check it out here is a sample

but don't frett... Werewolves are better anyway.

Sydney Tweed Ride

2010-06-27T21:17:00.002+10:00

please check the group user flikr account here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sydney_tweed_ride_2010/

Last Wednesday it rained all day. I know this because I was out and about riding in the rain with one very waterlogged Susan from RocketFuel for a few hours to long.

We rode a few lanes and streets to finally come up with the route for the Sydney Tweed Ride.

What a great day. Sunday for me was get in the van and drive to the park. Unload the tea set from the van at a friends house that was just across the road from the park where the BFF was having a photo shoot slash promo. At about 8.15 I was running late and still carrying stuff to the house that had power for my urn.

Arriving in the city I quickly got some coffee and rode into a large group of people dressed in tweed. I rode up and parked my bike. Wow a whole row of Mavern Star SkidSars. utterly fantastic. It was ten degrees in the shade and the tweed felt right at home keeping me snug and warm,. I found my Red Lanterns (people with a job on the ride) to brief them on the ride ahead.

I was thinking how to manage the various crossings of main roads and catch up points. It came to me that the reason KRudd failed was because he micro-managed everything and people hated this. I did the opposite. I gave each Red Lantern an intersection to manage each. So they where the boss there and no single person ends up being 'super bad guy'. This worked really well with all of the helping Red Lanterns enjoying their ride and having a special area to be in charge of, it worked well with even good reports.

On the ride was a total mixed bag of riders and bikes and styles. From a 7 month old in the front of a Bullitt and a few other kids in various bike seats was one about 6 year old who rode (the whole way)pasted to the left on mums front wheel. Excellent job Rudy.

I rode the whole event from the very VERY back and I am happy to inform. we had a beautiful ride on a sunday morning though the city and up to Taylor Square and then out to Alexandria. A wonderfull 11.3 km total length and 3.8 km as the crow flies.

Getting to our destination we actually encountered a single 4wd (BMW) with attitude and was trying to get past a group of riders over double yellow lines and then cut into the middle of a the group dangerously.. the driver of the car did this 3 times. I think when the driver got past we still got to the intersection first as the driver actually went the wrong way and came back to do it again. 30 seconds later and we would have been gone. Just goes to show all the agro was in the drivers seat.

The ride was a great thing with the general public tooting horns in appreciation and not anger for once. Onlookers looked on gob smacked from the pavements everywhere we rode.

I decided that having tea and biscuits would be super civilized so I went shopping and sourced some tables and urn and tea bags milk, sugar, cups, coffee, and electricity and water and someone to keep an eye on it all.

Thank you Jarrah from SYDBMA for being the (single) strong arm guy. He has a broken collar bone.
Andrea from the house by the park.
Koz at Clodelli in Clovelly rd who made the tea spot possible.

The tea was a donation driven thing. It worked. After all bills and donations I rounded out having enough money to buy A coffee and a loaf of nice bread.. I was quite happy to break even but to make 7 dollars made me smile more than if I had made 300. It was good to keep it simple and for it to work.

I would like to thank everyone who came along on the Sydney Tweed Ride 2010. Without you it just would not have been the same. A very special thank you and Job well done to the Red Lanterns, You all did a perfect job at the right pace and vibe.

Personally I had a great time and enjoyed being there . Watching the previous weeks of organization and meetings and stuff was made all better with a great plan coming together.

For more info on the Sydney Tweed Ride look here

View Sydney Tweed Ride 2010 (11.3 km) in a larger map

even more info at rocket fuel

pennine, a responce to oh2, a blog.

2010-06-03T00:32:00.000+10:00

The FMoser sits comfortably on the wall shunning me for lack of use.

What am I riding
A friend calls it "Rough Diamond"
it is original pain and has original custom sponsored paint job that is so ... well not good that the frame is now being protected by stickers

from the penninecycles.com site

Whitaker and Mapplebeck (Cycles) ltd have been established for 61 years. Started by Johnny Mapplebeck and Geoff Whitaker after the Second World War in 1946, who were looking to develop a business in their favourite hobby, cycling.
They found premises on Ingleby Road and developed a thriving business specialising in making their own Pennine framesets.

I also contacted pennine to check the bikes authenticity.
the lighthouses painted on the seat stays where painted by then frame builders wife. This frame was give to the French Team in the 60's and still has the national colours painted on the seat tube and head.

I did infact ride this bike in KyotoLOCO and Tokyo CMWC.

Below, Bondi Beach the view back from the beach, Green 29er guarded by a giant.

Above,Brett, 25 years a working bike courier in Sydney with a bike to look at. Definitely have a look at the enlarged version.

Dennis Hopper 1936 – May 29, 2010

2010-05-31T18:50:00.000+10:00

I have only seen Easy Rider a few times biu his character is great. for more info hit up this WIKI on awards. Like the brat pack or any group of people. Dennis Hopper is one of those names that alwyas circled with those who had success.

Multi-talented and unconventional actor/director regarded by many as one of the true "enfant terribles"* of Hollywood who has led an amazing cinematic career for more than five decades, Dennis Hopper was born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. The young Hopper expressed interest in acting from a young age and first appeared in a slew of 1950s television shows (ripped from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000454/bio)

* Les Enfants Terribles is a phrase in French that translates as "the terrible children" or "the holy terrors

In a movie mood I am stoaked that the Sydney Film Festival is full swing GO!!!
What exciutes me most about this years events is IMMORTAL SEDUCTION A series of possibly one of the greatest bunch of Vampire movies EVA!!! Feturing some of the most seductive vampire movies ever to grace the screen. Including the ever mysterious Nosferatu . If Lesbian arthouse is more your vibe , may I suggest Daughters of Darkness .
Comedy is not missed either . so check it out . If you have some time on your hands and you like movies like most of us. There is most likely a MUST SEE on the list someplace.

I found the site a tad under informed as I could not find the price of passes only single tickets and the 'pathways' that inform of me of groups of movies where also under described, so I had to actually launch into each pathway to find the genre.

pathways without descriptors
01. Fire Me Up
02. Freak Me Out
03. Love Me
04. Make Me Laugh
05. Push Me To The Edge
06. Take Me On A Journey
07. Opening Night
08. Closing Night
09. Official Competition
10. Foxtel Documentary Prize
11. Dendy Shorts - Animation
12. Dendy Shorts - Live Action
13. Short Film
14. Cinema Visionaries
15. Creative Drive
16. Immortal Seduction: the Vampire Movie
17. Kids Flicks
18. Sounds On Screen

Biggest fail I saw today was a teen wearing a top too small with pastel fat horizontal stripes with her gunt hanging out of her terry tracksuit pants and topping it off with ankle ugg boots. It was of course raining and her new ugg boots where about to let her toes rip through.

Lets face it folks, ugg boots where just not made for the rain.

Bless my full length mud guards.
I can not stress how good they are, just look at my dry feet.

Social Networking, "Don't be creepy, wanker"

2010-05-27T12:02:00.000+10:00

Twitter, facebook, blogs and various other social networking tools. The idea behind it is to keep in contact with friends and perhaps share like minded ideas or even discuss stuff that a group of you might be interested in.

Friends, surely this is a word that means something. On many social networks people must be your frinds if they want to see and share your posts. Facebook for example are insisting that if you wanna share an app with someone that you must be their friend. So here I am playing stupid mini games that have my attention for 15 minutes or 15 hours but to allow someone to quest or play with me or be populated or whatever, you must become their friend.. with a total stranger.

Twitter has so many bots following other bots that it surely must account for most of the bandwidth that could otherwise be used in real ether situations. I regularily get follow requests from what i presume are bots and SEO and marketing ID's. Some of these ID's have thousands of followers and not a single post.

Making friends on the web is very easy, almost to easy. you can search their name , their nick name, their email and their school. All is good when you actually use the tools to communicate with each other. As i mentioned earlier I play mini-games in Facebook, There was one game where you could not progress to the next level until you had (x) amount of friends playing the game. Lots of my frinds are not into games. To get around the obvious lack of desire of 'my' friends to play a game like some sort of simple Dungeons And Dragons sorta thing, the 'app' has a post to the applications wall, where people can JOIN you, but only if you accept their friend request. You know it , I managed to advance by regaling total strangers from all over the world to be in my party (on the proviso that I be "friends" with them).

My FRIEND numbers began to swell. I often gave the prospective friend a quick scan on their page on that social network site. Just a quick look to see if they where into weird shit... like me.

When I stopped playing the game I did kull my list a bit. I kept a few of them that where semi communicative or shared some playing style that was similar to mine. In fact I even became real friends with a few too.

So where does this leave us? I can tell you that I do filter my friend requests and do not press 'accept' as soon as I see them. With alarming regularity get requests from people with no 'also friends with' in common. Frankly I am not that lonely that I must get so many friends as I can to make myself feel confident.

Alarmingly, it is friends I actually know who kind of act weird that makes me think that their account has been compromised buy their little sister. I recently sent a rather non sexual or directed or pointed message to a friend who gave me "her" user name. She was posting past midnight and so I sent the message "go to bed" to that I got a response of "Don't be creepy, wanker" ...

Being neither creepy nor wanking. I just wondered why this average looking young lady would write such a thing. She neither knew me well nor did she write anything contextually true.

Hello BLOCK button.... the short thinking "valley girl" can just just bugger off. After all this aint the valley

But I believe that from my experience with chat rooms and web casts and social networking in many forms since the mid 90's that with the onset of easy chats and cams like chatroulette. people have become morally cheap and rather to easy to slag someone. Attitudes are rampant especially by the insecure and rude. I remember in Comic Chat that you actually had to chat in eloquent stanzas at least if you where not to be flamed as an idiot., Hello IRC. With various servers to connect to you went to a room of your choosing where you might chat with someone for years making a relationship and an understanding. Some rooms where topical and chat about topics was all that was allowed. Whilst others where meeting places intended to be nothing but light easy chat. /me slaps (put name here) with a trout , was an almost ultimate insult.

I recently became friends on facebook with someone whom I used to chat with in the 90's and we agree that people now dont want to know anything as they already know it. Also, chatting is almost a waste of time as everyone lies about who, what where. We realized and agree that everyone's 'acceptance' values have become a lot lower. our morals have become cheaper and our keenness to be told how pretty we are have become to important.

People use less words to express what they mean, and now they have become so nasty and cheap in value that short abusive stanzas have become the norm.

Social networking should bring people together but because of its cheap morals and easy feel it is making reality between real humans further apart.

I recently tried chatroulette. What i found was a steady stream of people not wanting to chat or talk. I found a lot of guys pulling their penises and a few who did not. as the chats flipped by I noticed that there was about 1 in 20 users who where women. When I started the chat roulette interface it says. nudity is forbidden, but 2 in 3 chats is some guy with his pants around his ankles... enter the enterprising guy. he takes your feed and places your face in various situations. this was the only guy who actually said HI and was even half interesting

There are pleanty of reasons why social networking is good but there are many more why they are bad. Just loook about and see how cheap we have become when we are on line. Only your real frinds offer you even a moment of good info or chat. even if it is just to say HI.

Long gone is the mailbox on the street that used to deliver messages from friends abroad and various other informative bits and pieces.

Enter http://www.seppukoo.com/ for facebook users is not only a breech of privacy as they need your log in details and if you have been using facebook for years you gonna have various bits of personal info but it also lets all your users that you have 'necked' yourself. pretty good but only if you don't mind a bit of engrish.

frankly although it is easy to communicate with people these days and the statement "the net is making the world smaller" it is also making people less communicative too.

Generally, I generate Chaotic Good Wizards or neutral WARs

2010-05-23T22:51:00.003+10:00

I did this little test. (link on the bottom)
I play games so it is quit normal to do this.

Normally I like being a Troll Guardian,dual or 2 handed or one hand and shield, I like 'troll' as they have great strength and stamina and good dexterity and can wear heavy armour. They heal faster and they are a mid to heavy weight hitter. I prefer them over Ogres who are ultimate TANKS because they are more intelligent and way more cunning. Evil trolls are just EVIL.

When i play wizard I go full INTELLIGENCE and Wisdom as second skill pool. I lie playing wizards as some spells are devastating. Delivery of spells is a skill in itself.

I managed to play Everquest 1 as an Erudite wizard all the way to level 40 before making a second character

when I took this test I was hoping for TROLL. I was definitely not leaning my answers towards an intelligence based wizard.

.

------------------- T H E T E S T

I Am A: Neutral Good Dwarf Druid (5th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-20
Dexterity-19
Constitution-16
Intelligence-18
Wisdom-15
Charisma-15

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Dwarves are known for their skill in warfare, their ability to withstand physical and magical punishment, their hard work, and their capacity for drinking ale. Dwarves are slow to jest and suspicious of strangers, but they are generous to those who earn their trust. They stand just 4 to 4.5 feet tall, but are broad and compactly built, almost as wide as they are tall. Dwarven men value their beards highly.

Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19) Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (26) Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (20) Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13) True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (20) Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXX (9) Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXX (5) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Chaos --- XXXXXX (6)
Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Neutral - XXXXXXXX (8) Evil ---- XXXX (4)
Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13) Dwarf ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Elf ------ XXXXXX (6) Gnome ---- XX (2) Halfling - XX (2) Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXX (9) Half-Orc - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Class:
Barbarian - (-2)
Bard ------ (-6)
Cleric ---- (-10)
Druid ----- XXXXXX (6)
Fighter --- (0)
Monk ------ (-17)
Paladin --- (-17)
Ranger ---- XX (2)
Rogue ----- (0)
Sorcerer -- XXXX (4)
Wizard ---- (-2)

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

I did WOW for a while and got sick of class leveling or balancing. Then shock horror EQ2 brought it in... NOOO good by EQ ... Class balancing made all areas solo-able by any class for character. basically they dumbed it down for idiot users who where in fact DUMB. just face it Wizards are not fighters and had low STR and where physically a pushover. Likewise most fighters where low in INT and could be confused easily. this is what makes characters different and have to fight the same MOB in different ways. Class balancing basicly made the smae mob just a bunch of hit points and not unique. So suddenly the interest in HOW to kill your prey changed to just kill you prey.

I went back to an EQ1 server and kinda put that down. I had been spoilt with larger populations and great graphics.
more info
http://www.wow.com/2009/06/18/eq-dev-wow-wouldnt-exist-without-eq/
Truth is, WOW was always second to EQ but for the fact that you did not need a super computer to play WoW. It won the numbers race, but the time the dust settled it was tooooo late. no to mention Sony was treating their clients like we where assholes and hated us.

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/27/1748252&mode=flat&tid=127

this article from slashdot is SPOT ON , and gives the reason why I gave up the Virtual on line world sucking game.

i have borrowed the bit I agree with here.
Everquest is a game centered on rewarding you for how much time you put into it. This is the core design philosophy behind the game, since they charge you by the month and make more money the longer you stick around. What they don't tell you is that taking your money is about all they're interested in. They care little for player complaints, and less about player suggestions and requests. They're in this to milk you for all you're worth, and that's the first thing you have to know.

The second thing you have to know is that the game stops being fun. By that time though, you're so "addicted" to the game, you don't realize it. The game becomes a source of frustration and anger instead of a source of entertainment and fun. It becomes a chore. It becomes a job. You plod away at the keyboard, obsessed and consumed with getting that new item, or finishing that last quest, and while so consumed you begin to hate the game. Vehemently. It's a game that goes on forever, and one that you can never win.

After playing the game for a while, you'll start conversing with other players, and you'll see the one thing all players have in common is that they all hate Sony - the designers of Everquest. (It should be noted that Verant, the original development company, has been absorbed into Sony Online Entertainment -- so will be referred to as Sony for simplicity) This is baffling at first glance, because they send Sony $12.95 every month for a form of supposedly voluntary entertainment, which they enjoy, and yet they despise them! Look a little deeper though, and you'll see that most people who dislike Sony are the ones who no longer have fun playing Everquest.

finally a reference source that is interesting
http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/menwomen.html

your rights are being taken away

2010-05-20T21:33:00.003+10:00

first the internet filter ... what a waste of cash and time.
and now this

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/travellers-to-be-searched-for-porn-20100520-vh09.html

some highlights

The "pornography" question has appeared on the cards since September last year. The change was only spotted by Patten earlier this month and it had received little to no coverage in the media.

I mean, how does a country like ours, suddenly make it illegal to own porn ?

Australian customs officers have been given new powers to search incoming travellers' laptops and mobile phones for pornography

I love snapping my wife at the "wrong" moments... it brings me great joy and frankly I think my wife likes it when I do it too.

Now if I do it, I must delete them before coming back into the country.

the same story here too
http://gnews.com/world/aussie-rules-changed-to-let-customs-search-for-porn-3520612409.html but it was posted 2 hours ago

Fiona Pattern from www.sexparty.org.au/ has asked...

The Australian Sex Party is demanding an enquiry into why a new question has appeared on Incoming Passenger Cards at the Customs point of entry into Australia. The new question asks if they are carrying any ‘pornography’.

The SMH mirrors what has already been covered. here http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/travellers-to-be-searched-for-porn-20100520-vh09.html

I do not see any statement claiming that this is about child porn except from the different stories that that talk about numbers of incidents that CUSTOMS has found.

News.com.au just makes a humorous remark that is not a humorous remark

COMING home from Amsterdam?

You had best declare those photos of the red light district and delete that lurid text message you accidentally left on your phone.

All of these media houses say the same thing and beat around the edges. They don't say much other than the same thing.

Getting to child pornography and the common persons civil rights are getting a bit thin here in Australia, firstly to reach our attentions is the INTENET FILTER that might work for 10 minutes once it is installed and running, but in essence makes us all guilty by association as they are blanket banning plenty of sites that might be deemed undesirable by a priest (for example).

I am no priest but there are some things I just do not look for and that is child porn. I have kids. It is neither a problem in this house nor an issue. However i am aware of creepy men in trench coats hanging around in the school yard and watching my kid for example. The filter is supposed to help with that . I guess not! education is the key here, not banning sites on the net.

The internet filter is a very big invasion of our rights.

This Customs porn filter is also a bit heavy handed and in the wrong direction. having a pic of my wife's awesome cleavage is illegal if I return to Australia from a trip out of Australia. How does this compare to child pornography which is the reason why CUSTOMS AGENTS have been given the right to search for your porn in the first place. if it is anything else IT IS JUST WRONG.

The Australian goes out and calls miners pedophiles, or am I reading that wrong?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/customs-alarmed-by-child-porn-rise/story-e6frg6no-1225696957022

RECORD amounts of child pornography are being seized at Australia's borders, much of it brought in by overseas students and foreign workers employed in remote mining areas.

The rise in child pornography detections has authorities so alarmed that the Australian Customs Service has begun an education campaign aimed at warning remote area workers of the penalties for anyone caught with the images.

Customs national manager for investigations Richard Janeczko said Customs had detected a major increase in the amount of child pornography stored on electronic media devices such as laptops, thumbdrives and iPhones.

This financial year alone, Customs has initiated 65 child pornography investigations, a figure on track to exceed last year's total of 86, Mr Janeczko said.

That compared with just 39 investigations in 2006-07.

The maximum penalty for anyone caught with child pornography is a $275,000 fine and-or 10 years' jail.

There really needs to be some sort of qualifier placed on that customs cards and then some explaination of why we are blanket guilty?
Wake up Australia. We are standing in our own shit.

My festive wish.

2009-12-23T14:54:00.002+11:00

It has been a great year for me this 2009. My kids have been a pleasure and grown in theier own way outwards, and I was lucky enough to go to Japan where I met some great people.

So my Festive wish for everyone is to just 'Let it happen" and by that I mean the good stuff.

The good stuff is different for everyone. So Just let it happen.

Virtual Light comes of age

2009-12-01T10:47:00.004+11:00

Battle of Branchage from seeper on Vimeo.

Virtual Light is a novel by William Gibson. If you do not know who or what William Gibson is I recommend you follow these links. to WIKI, to his official BOOK site.

When I taught IT and Multimedia i asked my students to write a few paragraphs on the computer about why William Gibson is significant ? If they did not want to write about him they must write the same amount of content of some other significant person from the world of CYBER... nothing to do with dirty chats either.

Out of 7 classes only only one person thought they should write about Bill Gates instead.

copied from wiki.

In Neuromancer, Gibson first used the term "matrix" to refer to the visualised Internet, two years after the nascent Internet was formed in the early 1980s from the computer networks of the 1970s.^[127]^[128]^[129] Gibson thereby imagined a worldwide communications network years before the origin of the World Wide Web,^[47] although related notions had been previously been imagined by others, including science fiction writers.^[VI]^[VII] At the time he wrote "Burning Chrome", Gibson "had a hunch that [the Internet] would change things, in the same way that the ubiquity of the automobile changed things."^[26] In 1995, he identified the advent, evolution and growth of the Internet as "one of the most fascinating and unprecedented human achievements of the century", a new kind of civilization that is – in terms of significance — on a par with the birth of cities,^[82] and in 2000 predicted it would lead to the death of the nation state.^[26]

Observers contend that Gibson's influence on the development of the Web reached beyond prediction; he is widely credited with creating an iconography for the information age, long before the embrace of the Internet by the mainstream.

HTC MAGIC Hutchinson

2009-11-26T22:02:00.005+11:00

ok 24 hours later.

I did NOT get the iPhone. I got the HTC Magic. I reckon that I will use it as a phone and use the minor web device from WiFi hot spots ONLY, meaning not 3G web surfing. Or at least till I can find a value pack I like. After all I have been overseas and expireinced the phone evolved culture in Japan. You know the iPhone failed there as it is crap next to Japans telco provided phones. Cheap and fast networks that work.

I did the right thing. I managed to get through all the settings from A to Zed and then to Finnish I tried to HTC SYNC my HTC Magic Phone running the Android Platform to SYNC with my computer.

I downloaded the latest appropriate Version. I was worried cause here in Australia there is 2 kinds of Magic , one with Vodaphone written on it and another with HTC written on it... That was he way to tell the two versions apart. One version is CUPCAKE whilst the other DOUGHNUT.
The Hutchinson version is the most recent with the new better working touch screen keyboard.

My first impression was pretty tame . The flick feature has turned page surfing into a sport, it is that much fun. But I managed to learn the way of the buttons and interface. It really was pretty easy.

I still have not been able to Sync with my computer to communicate with outlook and gmail and "stuff" but it is getting there. The staff at HTC customer support which is definitely Sydney local but is revy very "off shore" has been very good so far. In fact they fill me with confidence as to "there is a work around" attitude.

So I have tried all 4HTC Sync on 2 computers and cannot get the software to Identify the HTC MAGIC Android Phone. To complete that .. I installed and uninstalled one version at a time and yes I tried 4, from the original to the newest and latest... To answer the first burning question yes I did try and activate from the phone other than "mounting" the SD card which is easy for file transfers... and data dump of pics and music or videos etc.

Loving chrome in some ways on one of my computers, but hating it on the other. For different reasons. Android MARKET seems to be a myth with the downloads available hardly something I want .. or at least I cant find anything that seems useful yet.

Could not download the free WiFi hot spot identifier to actually download... I imagine as always on to suck the battery life...

So part 2 continues tomorrow... excited and frustrated.

things are not as they seem.

DAY 2, 48 hours later

I wake early in the morning and go do my bike mechanic gig for the last time today for City of Sydney. It was a great gig in partnership with bikewise.com.au . This morning was the last gig and was the background for channel 7's morning show 'Sunrise' . frankly all I did was fix bikes and got told to work on bikes from behind the rear wheel and pull the break lever... you know .. no matter how pretty an assistant is .. Stoopidity will shine. Reach the brake lever from behind the bike beyond the back wheel whilst it is 5 foot in the air in a stand... hmmm ' computer says Nooooo!'

I get home.. its hot, Time to ring HTC again. After a 5 minute wait on the phone after they have answered me and I have given my reference number from the day before.

The lady on the phone comes back and apologizes for the delay. She tells me to install the latest driver, the one that ends with 'Asia'. I do this.. nothing happens still.

I get upgraded to a tech. who tells me I have done all the right things. He says to try and reset factory settings and install the latest sync software... 5 minutes later I plug the USB into the phone and computer.. HEY PRESTO. It begins to sync.

It syncs all my email contacts from my outlook but I am flummoxed on how to get my numbers off my Nokia and onto my HTC. then I remember the "export to csv" on the nokia... I then import my csv files into my contacts on google mail. Sync again and once agin success... bit of a work around but it only took 10 minutes.

Now I am connected... i feel it is time to install some apps. I am very careful to not use 3G networks to web surf and turn off all services that connect to the web whilst being sure to only access via WiFi so it remains free.

I find a WiFi app that tells me if there is a unsecured HOT SPOT to hitch onto. you know like at Starbucks or McDonalds... I notice now I am not the only one with an unsecured wifi.

Next step, some GPS apps and some other stuff I might find useful, like an app to change my theme and file transfer via Bluetooth, which the HTC can not by default with Android. but the app to do so was easy to find

So it now night time and it is cooler. My GPS tracking app is now ON. The GPS works independently of any network, It syncs with satellites above. I activate the app. I am at home so my home network loads the maps. A little arrow appears on my house in google maps.

This is not my actual images but from the apps market. The left most image is distance, average speed, fastest speed, maximum and lowest altitude, it also tells me the grade., the middle image is just some edit functions etc, and the right is the map view, Now interestingly with Satellite view it seems I went though a few front yards and houses, and Even though I started and finished from the same spot my red line did not quite meet at the end. A great new play with a very interesting app.

I could see a use of this one to track a bike messenger or even to find my phone.. or perhaps help me get fit or just cause I love maps and weather radars .. its just groovy goodness.

I also loaded a Twitter app and a RSS feed app, the twitter app connects to my twitpic account and the GPS so I can upload images from my phone as I take it with a tiny.url and a GPS link for google maps too. kinda neat but possibly to much info. Actually it would be a good tool for the parking cop who takes photos of offending cars .. with this it will also give a GPS reference with a 5 meter variance.

Some other apps that failed was a drupal blogging tool.. it just failed to work with my drupal site.... But , I could see its advantage for working on it like that. The Hero Clock, or 'big analog' clock was just ugleeee.

I did install an app that has 20 animals and it makes the sounds of the animals while showing the workds of what they are... My 17 month old loves it.

So far I am Very impressed... except I now have to filter the crap out of my 837 emil addresses and bad phone numbers.

tweeterizers .. Audax riders leave tonight .. use #sm1200 to send your well wishes to riders

DEATH RACE v DEATHRACE 2000

2009-03-11T11:30:00.006+11:00

DeathRace V Deathrace 2000
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...
Science fiction had a world of selection to be original. Being blunt about fact is fine if you can handle it. So i will keep it simple as i possibly can without being a spoiler for any fun content that may surprise you..

have you heard about a game? It is a popular one where you drive about and you run about in a car and do missions.... no I am not talking about Saints Row or Grand Theft Auto, think back, yeah further back.. Carmageddon

wikirip below link to more

The game that became Carmageddon started out as "3D Destruction Derby", a banger-racing (stock-car) sim prototyped by Stainless. This was signed by SCi in 1995, but the banger-racing angle was soon dropped and for a while the game was to use the Mad Max license. This fell through, and was replaced by the Death Race 2020 license, as a sequel to the original film was at that time planned (it eventually emerged as a comic book). This introduced the running-over of pedestrians into the game.

the reason why the elaborate intro. I wanna tell you about another movie with Arnold Shwatsss...mm Conan. RUNNING MAN. Anyway its a movie with a totally different plot to Deathrace 2000. . . And Mad Max is not the same as Deathrace 2000.

The new movie does not even come close to the plot, pace or presence that is the original movie. The only similarities stop with the insertion of the DVD into your home entertainment unit.. Actually I would say Get the original... even though it has its slow spots and obvious mannequin replacement and slow spots. But somehow cant look away. DeathRace 2000 was the "B" grade verion and original of the main stream relaease of the same time Roller Ball

I saw David Carradine at a Sci Fi convention, I was wearing a black Tee with a big white "F". .. You won't know WTF I am talking about if you dont see Deathrace 2000 the original.

So how do they rate?

' a record 70 millon are watching Subscribe to the final stage now'

Deathrace (2008) V Deathrace 2000 (1975)

Booring, seen it before even with the new plot V Still Amazingly shockingly new

http://www.horror-wood.com/race.htm
Please visit my image sponsor and rottentomatoes.com

Lugs

2009-03-03T20:53:00.005+11:00

more info here http://www.hetchins.org/100.htm

but while we are at it check this out.

I have seen a lot of bikes but this just makes my knees go week, If I see a single try hard faker on one these. Please visit me in jail.

go to the website and take a slow look about.

ahh yes,
Below is a nice shot inside Harry hooper

Bush and Osama hold hands

2009-02-26T13:42:00.004+11:00

MAX PAYNE is loud on the 5.1 andthe Clear flat screen infront of me. Just started wondering how they are going to translate the dreame sequence from the PC game of the same naame and theme. How are they gonna show Bullet Time, or basicly the PC game special feature.

This is almost impossible with conventional slow-motion, as the physical camera would have to move impossibly fast; the concept implies that only a "virtual camera," often illustrated within the confines of a computer-generated environment such as a game or virtual reality, would be capable of "filming" bullet-time types of moments. Technical and historical variations of this effect have been referred to as time slicing, view morphing, slow-mo, temps mort and virtual cinematography.

If you are new to Max Payne... think of the roof scene where Neo doges bullets in MATRIX. In Bullet time itis a bit like that but it comes with sureal nightmares on the side.

If you liked the Direction of the camera in WANTED then you will like MAx Payne as its use of Verual Camera is awesome too

Last week I sw the movie Postal, as in Running with Scissors.

Now I wonderd about that movie beacuse the game was BANNED in many countries. Although I was considering Owning a copy of the banned game I was wondering how true to plot the movie was going to be.

Although things look the same the theme is only based on the same theme with some of the characters being quite true to form in thier groups..

I like the fact that they brought in real life into the movie with a disgrunteld Game Developer going nuts at the movie director.

A fight between Postal creator Vince Desiderio and Postal director and park owner Uwe Boll (which ends with Boll being shot in the genitals, confessing "I hate video games")

On the right here is a parody of George Bush and Osama Bin Ladedn holding hands and generally makiing things happen so that money can be made or asses needed saving etc.