The Time Traveler's Wife

Not even my cold heart could resist this machine-less time traveling romance.

Résumé Font Offends Employer | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

I always prefer to use a manly font ... TNR is so bondi.  Thus far, it hasn't seemed to help in a while though.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/52073

Bike Rack

Now, this is how you move a bicycle ...

God Answers Prayers Of Paralyzed Little Boy | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Now, to all those debating the ethics of satire in the light of the Chaser's recent misreading of public sentiment in regards to the Make-A-Realistic-Wish skit, the primary prerequisite of satire is that it should be funny.  And this is.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28812

Bing! Again!

What do you get when you google, 'Bing'?  Bing Lee, one of Australia's most notable dealers in electrical goods ... BingMail, apparently a great way to send email ...  some upstart search engine developed by one of the dinosaurs of the tech world.  Wolfram/Alpha tells me that Bing Awad is a Papua New Guinean language spoken by approximately 1200 people.  It's good to see some competition in the world of search but it'll take something really special to move me away from Google.  Perhaps Stephen Tobolowsky could be the spokesman ... he kind of looks like the "I'm a PC" guy ...

It's like surgery

Examinations are like surgery.  Often better than the alternative - it'll be over in a couple of hours but unless all is prepared it could go horribly wrong.

Hubert's Homebrew

http://hubertshomebrew.blogspot.com/
Now, it has been some time since I blogged properly due to the machinations of my current existence which is really no excuse but it has been even longer since I have had any experience with the construction of or even just the imbibing of home brew - and they've always been relatively positive experiences.  From the first time I tried the first attempts of some old school chums (which rated a mention in a best man speech as I recall) to the copious quantities imbibed at an @home stag night they've all been memorable in their own way.  The previously mentioned first attempt was not quality but it was drinkable and I believe I may have even been sub18 so it would have been one of my first true drunks.  It was hot, the beer had been designed with as high an alcohol content as possible and whilst there was no real shenanigans apart from total loss of control it was a drunk and I hadn't had any (although I do believe it was the second one), next was my own attempts, the first one was pretty good - a stout, some was given away to positive reviews, it was taken to parties, it was drunk and it was celebrated.  Pretty good for one's self esteem and nobody ever complained - I can't recall any stories other than positive reviews, so it was appreciated and not criticised which is also good.  The stories of the infamous Satan's Sloe (Gin) were even wilder - so good that it was sold for cash, it's qualities got me one of my first kisses from my best friend's girlfriend! Not something to be proud of, it was kind of sleazy but it's a memory that will stay with me forever even if it is one of the haziest ones I have, I think we got caught but it didn't seem to cause too much trouble in the long run.  There was more produced on a grander scale by AJ, my experimental school friend who has a Life Wish which can be equated with mine although it expresses itself in different ways, nearly always good and often reducing a party's costs by half.  When you've got home brew on hand in quantities then the dynamic of a party changes - you can booze till you drop and often do.  Not all of the expeirences are drunken but they're often memorable.  I think I've got still got a brewing kit stashed under M&D's house.  Maybe I'll pull it out.

And All That Jazz

Man, I think I might like jazz if it wasn't such a wank.  Where to start?  The fact that every song is dedicated to someone who has profoundly influenced the jazzer's life (and most of them are sadly no longer with us), the repeated introductions to every member of the band (who are all geniuses by the way), the solos that go on and on and on and on, that every song has a title even though if there are lyrics they're just 'bup bup bedoop boopedy doop bup bup bup', or ... is it just the hats and jazz-tarts that adorn everyone's head?

Death Star vs Star Trek

So there is a purpose for After Effects after all ...

Milli O'Nair's happy life cut horribly short in freak accident | smh.com.au

As tragic as this accident was it certainly appears that it was an accident and these things do happen.  Am I the only one who's curious about her name though, I wonder if she had a brother named Billy?
http://www.smh.com.au/national/milli-onairs-happy-life-cut-horribly-short-in-freak-accident-20090512-b1d4.html

Cyclist's Escape

A funny thing happened to me on my last trip to California ...

Stunt Bike

I could do this, I just don't want to ...

Watch out

"Oh my God, I swallowed a fly!"
"Ooh no! So did I!"

Too-whit?

Too-whoo?

Time

You would really think that a retrenchment would bring out the wordsmith within - it feels so strange to be the 'statistic', the quintessential victim of the GFC ... there's a lot of time - the 'job' takes up a lot of it and even though the freedom is overwhelming it's also menacing, time means spending and you've got to reel that in despite the gummint stuffing cheques in the mail urging you to do your bit (a hell of a lot better than spilling blood for the latest war). The days are shattered and shuffled together - tasks are allocated, goals are set, it's not that much different from half the time at work. I expect there are a few psychologically determined phases that I'll be going through over the weeks or months and I guess I'll ride them out.

Thank you, Michael D'Ascenzo ...

You're doing a heck of a job, Asci!

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Condoms 'too big' for Indian men

The life of a statistician, it's not all ANOVAS and t-tests ... Now, was this is a simple random sample?  Did they check the variability of the sample?  Do a Bonferroni correction for the directional planned contrast?  Or did they just do a SNK post hoc test to see what they would see?  I hope the people who did this analysis did their homework properly because I'll be damned if I'll do it on my own ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6161691.stm

"This is not where East and West divide -- this is where they come together,"

Zing, again!  That Obama sure has a way with words ...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/07/obama-ends-turkish-visit-student-town-hall/

You Play You Pay

Now, this might be old news but I've been very lapse on the weblog front of late and the issue still hasn't been resolved yet so I would consider it to still be current or at least raisin.
At first glance this story appears to be one of the little guys standing up to evil big business - albeit a scruffy, dot com millionaire little guy - but even a cursory look over the reporting reveals a very different story. The 27 year old Nicholas Bolton saw a bargain - undervalued shares going very cheaply, he had the available cash to buy up a huge chunk of them so he did. Upon the realisation that he was obliged to pay millions he tried to dissolve the company and therefore the project that the company was built around. What did he think he would do with all of these shares? Sell them when they appreciated a couple of cents, netting a fortune for himself all for being lucky enough to have the available cash to play the market. He tried to make a quick buck in a game where he didn't fully understand the rules and now that he's losing he doesn't want to play anymore and is willing to railroad a massive infrastructure project that would have great benefits for a lot of other people - the least of which are the construction workers who would get employment building it which is a good thing in this economic climate. I'm not a big fan of roads but I use them and recognise their necessity. I don't know how this thing is going to play out - much of this economic crisis is due to people playing the trading game with no regard to the consequences of what happens when capital is sloshed around like water in a bathtub - when you play and f**k up you should have to pay.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25070213-30538,00.html
http://business.smh.com.au/business/danger-money-turning-a-tollway-into-a-train-wreck-20090402-9l3r.html

Area Man Thinks He Was Fired Because Of Recession | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

I'm feeling a great deal like the area man at the moment ... maybe I should have shaved last Friday ...
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/area_man_thinks_he_was