Biggest toy wins

Last weekend was my first Sydney flight in the 350. What a hoot! I have done plenty of city flying before but most of it has been in 210's so this was a bit of a step up.

I have to say I just love these big balloons, even in difficult areas like a city.

Mayuni and Yosh came along for the morning, Mayumi was dwarfed when she jumped into the pilots compartment after landing. Big passenger balloons just don't exist in Japan so it was a real novelty for them to see one this big.

The future isn't what it used to be.

Trawling the net again and found this very interesting talk by science fiction writer Charlie Stross.

This is the transcript of a talk he gave in Germany in early May. The comments at the end of the transcript are almost as interesting as the talk itself. It is not a short read but I liked it.

Sorry

I know I should be in bed right now, sleeping like a baby and preparing for the new day (which has now already arrived...) but I can't and I find myself trawling the web instead.

In my travels, I found this site. Sorry Everybody

It is not a new site, indeed it was set up after the last US elections way back in 2004 where Bush Jnr. got back in with some dubious vote counting in Florida.

It was interesting to find this at a time where our government has just rolled out a pre-election budget tailor made to keep the masses happy. Even over here we are hearing the grinding of cogs as the USA election machine starts to roll in the lead up towards their 2008 election.

Anyhow, the pictures in this site made my day. They made me smile and that is important in any day.

It made me think about the importance of the right to vote and also about how dangerous the recent changes to our laws for getting enrolled to vote are. The Federal Government has passed extraordinary legislation that will close the rolls for new voters at 8pm on the very night the election is officially called. Is it just me or is that crazy?

The key thing here is to check you are on the roll and that your information is up to date right now! Go to the Australian Electoral Commission website and sort it out or you will miss out on your chance to vote!

For more information on the changes to the legislation, check out this post on the GetUP! website.

PS: sorry to get political in the middle of a light hearted blog but some things push my buttons - or maybe I need a good sleep.

Binalong video

Editing video is one of those things that I enjoy, but never seem to find the time to do. Even with fast computers it is never fast enough.

There are probably some people out there shaking their heads and saying "I remember when..." and all I can say is that yes, I have never edited real film but I have had time in an edit suite on Umatic tape and later with Betacam, and I do know how good we have it with non-linear editing these days having even played with the very first generation of the Media 100 suite back in the day.....But I am all for instant gratification and computers are still not fast enough.

Anyhow, that is my rant on technology. I threw this together last night from some random shots taken during Yosh's first training flight. It is a little bit special because Mt. Bobra is the highest point in the area around Binalong and it is fun scooting along the side of it.

1st Binalong trip for 2007

Autumn weather in Binalong is just the best. Right now it is warm and sunny and the winds are light. Just enough cool air on the surface for a nice inversion without your toes turning to blocks of ice as they will in another months time.

I have been teaching Yosh to fly which has been a real pleasure. He has a natural ability and despite some funny language moments, he is fast to grasp what is going on and has great control on the burners. Two hours and 40 minutes into his training and all is going very well. Mayumi did a little 10 minute hop as well today just to make sure she had not forgotten how to fly.

The RC plane has had a hammering too including two little excursions into the local gum trees due to a case of "dumb thumb" when I zigged when i should have zagged. Amazing that no real damage was done and after both incidents I was off and flying again after the judicial application of some high speed tape!

Viewing pleasure..

You have to have the right tools to do a job well. I spend way to much time in front of a computer and seemed to be forever pushing tool boxes and palettes around the screen to try and see my work.

Today I got a new toy! 22 inches of LCD goodness. It is sooooo nice. If you were reading this on my screen, it would be one long line of text that just seems to go on for ever...

Well, a slight exaggeration but you get the idea. All the experts say a large screen is more productive - I will be able to confirm or deny this in a few weeks. In the mean time it just looks big and impressive. I give it a week before one turns up on Dads workstation just across the office.

The knee is well and truly on the mend and has been tested with two long nights of dancing Ceroc. Yosh and Mayumi even came along for a class on Monday night which was really good fun. Yosh is keen to keep learning so we will have to find him classes all over Australia as he travels around.

The big test for the knee is tomorrow night when we hit the climbing wall again.....lets see what I can break this time.