Lost and found

Today's The Daily Telegraph carries a report of two men travelling in Central Western NSW who became bogged and used a mobile phone to call for help. They were in a State Forest - but proved quite easy to find - since they were able to provide their exact co-ordinates from the GPS unit they had with them. Seems that providing every vehicle/person with a GPS would solve two problems: firstly it could cut down on expensive search costs; and secondly it would mean we could leave ours in the car without fear of having it stolen! Of course, for the finding people thing to work as well as having them with the GPS, you could also track the GPS unit itself - so you could tell at a glance where anyone was. While this might sound very Big Brother-ish (that would be Big Brother of Orwell's "1984" rather than the television version where people are locked in a house and then voted out) it has very practical applications. Mobile phone satellite tracking is already popular in Australia where parents use it to track children, eg Telstra offers a "Where is Everyone" program. And there is a new service on the horizon which will allow you to create a virtual "electric fence" so you can track that special someone's movements. This could provide a very valuable community service as well - if you could, say, track the whereabouts of someone who was legally required to stay a certain distance from your premises. According to reports, under the system, to be provided in Australia by Affinity under the title "Go Track My People", if someone goes into a restricted area, or out of their "safe" area, with their mobile phone, it sends an alert to a third party. Of course, keeping the mobile phone on someone who knows they are being tracked by it might be difficult - oh wait, perhaps that's the answer ... You don't tell them. Hmmm, it will be interesting to see what privacy protections are available with the system.
That reminds me of a news report from a while ago - about a gentleman, confined to his premises and complete with "bracelet" to confirm his location - which duly announced his departure, but then provided no help in finding him. At the time, it did seem as though the system was based on trust rather than technology.

Stretch

I have downloaded a Crosswords* program by Stand Alone, Inc. on the iPod Touch and it's very nice to use - but I miss handwriting the answers in - so I'm still purchasing my copy of The Daily Telegraph so I can do the crosswords. Doing the "Two Speed" this morning, I was stumped by the clue "Stretched" (quick) or "Half distance finished up all stretched out" (cryptic). The only word that seemed to fit was "dispersed" but that seemed not quite right - as I found myself muttering as I finished filling it in "it seems like a bit of a stretch" (hmmm seemed funnier at the time). I'll have to check tomorrow to see what the answer is.
* You can download the day's puzzles - which are drawn from a number of sources including The Sydney Morning Herald - over WiFi. Puzzles are filled in via the virtual keyboard on the device and for those who are impatient (or stumped) you can check the correctness of individual letters or clues, or the entire puzzle while you are off-line.
Update: As it turns out, the answer was "distended" - which I hope I would have finally arrived at if only I had been better with my tenses/letters - having botched the across clue and working with an "s" instead of "d".

Working it

Leaving the newsagency with the papers yesterday, I overheard an interchange that went:
"Don't work too hard."
"That's an oxymoron."
"What?"
"Don't work too hard. You can only give what you have - so you can never work too hard."
Worked for him - and it makes sense too ... but those people who talk about giving 110% may wish to take issue with it.

Luck runs out

According to recent reports, scientists contend that dinosaurs were able to rule the earth (for a while anyway) because their biggest - as in main - rivals were wiped out by a major event, perhaps climate change, perhaps a meterorite strike. The competition was a group of reptiles called crurotarsans, like today's crocodiles but bigger and, supposedly, resembling dinosaurs. Scientiests suggest the crurotarsans fared better than earlier dinosaurs because the dinosaurs walked on two legs - and could have been warm-blooded. Hmmm. Seems that what we know about dinosaurs keeps changing. And even what they looked like might have been different to common belief: I read somewhere that a man and his son had put together the bones from a chicken carcass, using all the bones, and the resulting frame looked nothing like a chicken. So what guarantee is there that people reassembling dinosaurs bones get it right?

Kitchen whiz

As a regular reader of David Pogue's column (NY Times), it's always fun to see what he finds. Latest fun bit was this site - a cooking segment with a bit of a difference.

Music to my ears

After reading of the death of David Foster Wallace, I went in search of an eVersion of his novel "Infinite Jest" - billed as his " best-known novel". I couldn't find it on my usual eBook supplier's website, so I tried Amazon instead. No-go - but I did find this there and it gladdened my heart ... Kindle is an eBook reader.

Privacy concerns

When Chrome, the new browser from Google, became available a short while ago, there was talk of a "privacy" feature. This would allow the user to do "secret" web surfing - say if someone was wanting to investigate a present they wanted to give to someone, or research a holiday for that special someone - and leave no trace of it on a communal computer. This "private browsing" mode is also known as "porn mode" because the browser erases all traces of the session - so it's as though the sites were never visited. I had thought this was a new feature but apparently it's been around in some browsers for a couple of years - and was pioneered by Apple, according to the report I read in Monkey_Bites. Privacy mode does have legitimate uses - say on public computers where you don't want your banking or email log-ins tracked. Hmmm, I wonder if the privacy mode also prevents key strokes from being logged - now that could be really useful.

Film delay

With the latest Harry Potter film delayed, you'd think Warner Bros would be happy that there was a replacement in the wings ... but, it seems not. There was some talk that "Twilight" would slip into the spot - but apparently there's a new contender: "Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Errors". The Bollywood film tells the story of a 10-year-old boy who moves to London and becomes involved in a plan to save the world. It is not related to the Harry Potter wizard movies, to which Warners Bros owns the rights - which could explain why Warners' filed a lawsuit against the makers of "Hari Puttar". According to the BBC item I read, the film's title was registered in 2005: Hari is a popular Indian name, and Puttar means 'son' in Hindi and Punjabi. "Hari Puttar's" release has been delayed, but at this stage it's unclear as to how long.

Flapjacks

The breakfast menu offered "Flapjacks" which in this instance meant "pancakes". But where did the word "flapjack" come from? And why is it different in various countries - in the UK, for example, a flapjack can be a cookie or a muesli bar; in the US, as it is here, it can be a large pancake. In other instances, a flapjack is a wrestling move or it can be used as a derogatory term for a person from an indistinguishable country of origin (or so Wikipedia says) - hopefully neither of which will turn up on the breakfast menu.

Election time

It's local Government election time here in NSW, and because we were going to be out of the area on vote day, we were able to cast an early vote. Reasons for being able to vote prior to the election included being a "silent elector" - who knew there was such a thing? This is where someone is not on the public electoral roll because it is deemed dangerous for their identity and address to be known. But, when they do vote, I bet they also have to vote in pencil - the only implement available in the voting booth. I always take a pen with me - and sometimes wonder if my vote is disallowed because it isn't in pencil. Will be interesting to see if we go to pen or electronic voting first.

Tool time

Some years ago, at a Christmas lunch, the trinket inside a BonBon was a toy spirit level. Not one to throw things away, I filed it away with the other keychains and was happy to dig it out tonight as I put some pics on the living room wall. I had already had three hooks in, but I needed to get in another column of three which were vaguely lined up with the others. Working with a ruler, pencil, spirit level and a great deal of luck, it doesn't appear to have turned out too badly. I am going to have to borrow a proper spirit level though, so I can make sure they really are straight!

DVD viewing

Watching a DVD tonight I was struck by how unfair it is ... here I am buying a series on DVD and I have to sit through the "downloading is a crime" anti-privacy ads; while people who illegally download the same series don't have to (watch the anti-piracy ads). Just doesn't seem right somehow. Yes, I know I could leave the room rather than actually watching them but ...

Sing-a-long

For those who aren't fond of Karaoke but still want to have a sing at parties, there's now SingStar - which works a little like Karaoke - words on a screen - but it's based on getting the tune and notes right as well. It's a Playstation 2 "game series" and the only thing that could be better is the Playstation 3 version, which apparently has microphones which are unwired and you can download any song you want from the internet for use with SingStar. That was the word at the Fancy Dress party we went to where the SingStar was a feature. Obviously we don't get out enough because it appears that this happens a lot at parties (ie group singing) these days. It's amazing isn't it, that we appear to have come full circle with entertainment ... instead of congregating around the piano for a sing-a-along now, people gather around the PlayStation? Idol may have something to do with this.

Going places

 Finally it's time to move to a GPS system.  I tried this one, but it didn't seem quite as effective as the next version, which sits on the dash of the car and tells me where to go!  It is truly amazing technology and, I admit, sometimes I just turn it on - not intending to drive anywhere - so I can see what satellites are within range ... and to switch between the English and Australian female voices (hmmmm - note to self ... check if there is a male voice ... can't seem to recall that there is one - which may not be surprising given that old saying about men not asking for directions - although that doesn't necessarily mean they don't know where to go.)

Driving Hazard #2

You never know what you are going to find when you're on a country road ... but we were pleasantly surprised to find this Emu and chicks.  You'll need to click on the image to view it at a larger size to be able to see that the chicks are striped!  We found them on the way back from the Sun (on our Virtual Solar System tour) aka Siding Spring Observatory, Coonabarabran. The sign showing the T intersection, shows the turn-off to the Observatory (and Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury). 

Driving hazard

If you're driving out on the open road and a pilot vehicle approaches from the other direction indicating there's an "Oversize" vehicle coming, it's best to think of your options - especially if a police car also approaches - driving on your side of the road. This happened to us on our way to Dubbo the other day - and luckily we had already pulled off the road when the police cars ahead of the OVERSIZE vehicles came through - three of them. We weren't sure what the vehicles were carrying - but it was BIG.
  

Do Not Call Register

After the fourth telemarketing call today, I found myself visiting the Australian Government's Do Not Call Register website.  As long as you meet certain conditions - being the account holder, having a valid email address if you're registering online, and using the number you're registering primarily for private or domestic purposes - you can register to have telemarketers not call you.  The site informs visitors that registration will not prevent all telemarketing calls, and it may take up to 30 days for telemarketers to stop calling after registration, and that if they don't stop calling (and not all will) you can complain.   In the interim, it's good to know that there's an industry standard which, among other things:

• regulates the hours in which telemarketers and researchers can call
• requires callers to give their contact information and divulge the reason for their call, and
• requires the caller to terminate the call when asked to do so.

Opportunity

Sitting in a coffee shop this morning, the woman at the table opposite commented on my phone/keyboard set-up. Turns out she is a journalist and mediator (she has worked with the UN but regrets having turned down a gig in the Congo) who is between jobs but has just finished a film script, is working on poetry - and doing a reading this evening - and lamenting that she did not act on a gut feeling that there was going to be a change in the NSW Government leadership and subsequently did not get in "on the ground floor". Mid-conversation she leapt up and went over to talk with someone who had just walked in - a staffer for one of the recently-promoted politicians. Opportunity strikes. (Fingers crossed.)

Cars for cash

An item in today's The Daily Telegraph reports the owners of the Mercedes in which Princess Diana (and others) was mortally injured wants to retrieve the vehicle from where its been held in a police compound in South London since July 2005, and sell the car at auction. Expected return from the sale: $2.2 million. It could raise a question of ownership though - depending on whether Paris-based company Etoile Limousines ever lodged a successful insurance claim for the vehicle. While laws may be different there - here, once a claim is paid, the insurance company owns the vehicle. Of course, it's possible that Dodi Fayed's father may intercede to prevent the vehicle from going to public auction (although that could make it seem a little like emotional blackmail - or maybe that's just me). It reminds me of another macabre vehicle story - where author Stephen King's reportedly purchased the van which ran him over, causing him severe, almost fatal injuries (which may have been the inspiration for the main character in "Duma Key"). He reportedly wanted to make sure the van didn't become a souvenir for fans via eBay.

"Romancing the Phone"

Not sure what this says about the demographic of those using their iPod Touch or iPhone as an electronic reading device but I received an offer from my eBook supplier for free eBooks in celebration of the release of the latest version of their software. The offer was for three Harlequin Romance titles. Hmmmm.