The crazed ravings of Splinter (Tony Castley)
Ok so I have a new webcam! So if you know my MSN Messanger account (I think you can look up my details easy) I can send you a video stream while we chat.
Otherwise look at this temporary page that is being updated. Sorry about the ads, testing some free software.
Ok today it got to 36o degrees celsius today and wind gusts up to 66Km/hr. Since this is the 3rd or 4th day in a row of high temperatures and winds several fires have broken out around the city.
These have mostly been grass and bush fires, however due to the layout of Brisbane and the large areas of bush within the city limits many houses and business’s have been threatened. Out in the western suburbs several cars have been destroyed while they were parked at the local train station.
With fires this early in the season it looks like a long, hot summer.
Ok I have added the links to online comics that I read daily. Now you will be able to tell just how strange I am :razz:.
I will go throught the list in alphabetical order (same as the links):
Alpha Shade
This one I have only just started reading, and the detail and quality of the drawing is amazing. The setting reminds me of the anime Last Exile. Set in an alternate reality where the only and new technologies mix. This story follows 3 soldiers through a fight that is shaping their world.
Dilbert
Ok if you don’t know Dilbert then where the hell have you been! He is the hero of the engineering set! The defender of logic! The bane of management! and a little pathetic at times.
Errant Story
I started reading a different comic by this artist, but his skill in drawing and story telling is much improved with this sotry. Meji is a half-elf who has run away to uncover her past, along the way she has run into the other characters that are helping her for their own reasons.
Girly
Ok I am not going to try and explain this one, other than to say it is about an “interesting” lesbian relationship. It is sometimes sexual in nature but not revealing or pornographic.
Megatokyo
This is one of my all time favourite comics, I even own the first volume in real paper. Piro and his friend Largo have travelled to Tokyo and spent all their money. They are trapped there until the earn enough to come home. No Largo is a hard core gamer, however he sees the world through gamer’s eyes. Piro is an inocent shy boy who’s guardian angle cannot seem to do anything to help him.
Outsider
Outsider “is a space opera chronicling the adventures of a young human officer thrust into an alien society in the midst of a galactic war. It is presented in a for-web, full-color comic format, which combines 2D and 3D computer artwork with hand-drawn characters.”
This comic is updated only infrequently but the story has me interested and the quality is great.
PVP Online
Player vs Player is a gamers magazine and this comic is about the people that write it. Including the Troll that is an intern, and the super intellegent cat, Scratch.
Striptease
Behind the scenes at a small independant comic company. The relationships between the people and the evil twin keeps me interested.
Wandering Ones
After world war 3 the Americas have been broken into too factions. Placed squarly in the middle are the Mountian People, living of the land and keeping the old ways of the American Indian.
One last thing, most of these comics have a story, so you should go back and read from the first.
Ok via whoever it was that brought me here will have to take me home (aka Bartspace) I found out about the National Novel Writing Month. Now it seems to be challange for all budding writers to complete a novel in one month. That’s right 50,000 words in 30 days!
Now it seems like Darren is doing it again and I wish him all the best.
I am toying with the idea of doing it myself, which would be amazing to see me motivated to to anything :grin:. I will let you know.
Ok down here in the southern hemisphere it is spring time. Now this is the time of year that Canberra shines! So have a look below.
Well I have two weeks of holidays! However it looks like my father-in-law might be staying for the long haul.
A couple of years ago he had a heart attack and a triple bypass operation, however he has not really recovered from this. Over the last two weeks that he has been here he has been getting worse. One stay in the hospital, 3 doctor visits and one specialist visit.
I hope he gets better soon.
As you can see from Dani’s post, I am away again. 😥
This is my second last week away, before a few weeks holiday and then work in my home city. It has been so long since I have worked for a project within my normal field, in my home city I can hardly imagine it.
The projects I have been working on have got some press recently and it is nice to see that what I am doing is being noticed.
Today I am working from the appartment as I have a head cold I got off my son.
A storm is rolling in tonight, it is about 4pm and the storm in coming from the south-east. This is a bit early for our storm season, so it looks like it might be a very active season.
Ok tonight is a blue moon ! This is a very rare event and one that should be marked in some way, here in Australia we decided to call an election. Yay! 😕
Last month the America’s had a blue moon on the 31st of July. Well now it is our turn. Due to the confusion of timezones Australia did not get a blue moon last month, but that full moon became the first for us in August. Now approx 29.5 days later we have had our 2nd full moon.
Now I just got a piece of creative spam as a comment so I thought I would share (the content, not the links).
“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.”
not J.R.R Tolkien
My son lost his first tooth two days ago. Now we cleaned it up and put it in a special tooth holder, so the tooth fairy would have no problem finding it. Now we have a busy life at the moment, with me travelling each week Dani working 4 days a week and all of us working on our daughters school project.
I am not sure why but this seems to have prevented the tooth fairy from making it into our house and swapping the tooth for a dollar coin (what can I say inflation!). Not one but two nights in a row the tooth fairy has slacked off.
My boy came in this morning and said “Our Tooth Fairy is USELESS!!”
Better luck tonight.
Update:Well the tooth fairy came and found a tooth AND 10 cents. Seems my boy is prepared to PAY the tooth fairy to take his tooth away. Boy do I feel bad. 😳
Ok a work friends wife has published her first book, Holycross (search for Holycross). This book outlines the history of the O’Mara family from Tipperary in Ireland. Through civil unrest, murders, trials and then to the Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) colony.
Judith did all the research, most of the illustrations, the cover design, layout and got the book self published. I am in awe of the time, effort and quality that Judith has put into this.
I am still reading, so you can expect a full review soon.
Ok so here is something a little different. Bose, the famous speaker makers, have come up with a new suspension system for cars.
This looks really cool, and active suspension system that uses linear electromagnetic motors to control each wheel. Each of the linear motors can push the wheel towards the ground or pull it up to the car, allowing all the bumps and potholes to be smoothed out. This will also prevent body roll when cornering and pitch when accelerating or braking.
Tomorrow is “Software Freedom Day” and as a user, suporter and contributor to Open Source Software I highly recommend that you all go have a look, and if you can grab TheOpenCD do so. This disk has a wealth of software for Windows that will make your life simplier, easier and save you money.
Well in a day or so I am off to Canberra for another months worth of work.
This will be my last trip, before starting on a new project in Brisbane.
As usual I will keep you all posted.