Nice shot along Takapuna Beach at Sunrise the other day…

…and looking at it got me thinking…

Why are photographs rectangular?  The scene I saw was not rectangular.  And similarly why are books mostly rectangular or square?  These formats seem to have been constrained by the limitations of flat paper, but if they had not been, what shape would these objects be?  The flat, rectangular approach seems very suited to the presentation of text or graphical information, but is that just because we’re all so used to seeing content presented that way?  Now that we are technically able to move beyond the limitations of flat paper, books and bindings, is there a better shape or format for presenting portable information?

What’s on my bookcase now…

• Sun Education Manual: Distributed Programming with Java Technology (UNIX)

• Sun Education Manual: Java Programming Language

• Java Server Programming

• Core Java Fundamentals

• Software Project Survival Guide

• Programmer’s Guide to the Oracle Precompilers

• Visual Modeling with Rational Rose and UML

• Oracle 8 The Complete Reference

• Java 2 Complete

• Korn Shell Programming by example

• Oracle Performance Tuning

• C For Programmers

• Applying UML and Patterns

• Data Structures and Algorithms in C++

• UML In a Nutshell

• Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days

• Tendersoft Tissues

• Blue Sky Mining albumn by Midnight Oil (1990)

• V-Rally Multi-Player Championship Version

• Top Gear Magazine November 2005 : Mazda MX5 Issue

Just so you know where my priorities *really* lie! A comfortable mix of propeller-head and petrol-head.

Ernie and Brian

You may have seen this do the rounds a while back, under the subject “The Humna Brian.”

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.  The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.  Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.  Azanmig huh?

The cleverly-named hot water urn.

So that explains why, despite its friendly name, I could never quite bring myself to drink out of one of these things…

Reconfigure the Laws of Nature…

So this came up a while back, and I thought I’d post it since I found the idea quite amusing…

There’s a “Will it Blend” clip on youtube for the new iPhone, which prompted my brother-in-law (an avid fisherman) to ask the question “Does it float?” What use was any gadget if when dropped from a boat it just disappeared beyond retrieval?

Kirstin said “The new Tamagotchi’s float.”

So I asked a girl in our office who *has* one of the iPhones, and the closest we could get was a setting that will “Disable Automatic Syncing.”

The Starters and The Finishers!

Our Trailwalker team had the name “The Stationers.”  More of a “Working Title” as anything, but it definitely worked for us.  Here we are as the starters…

And here we are as the finishers…

If you look closely at the second shot, you may notice Trish, Veronica and Kevin managing to force smiles at the finish line.  I managed to force “upright.”

We got in at just under 24 hours, which is probably just about as much walking as can be done in one day, and it was plenty for me.

Five teams didn’t start, eight more teams didn’t finish.  Seventy-eight teams finished with fewer than four members standing, and so could not be given official times.

We were the 80th team across the finish line, with 202 teams behind us.  We raised over $2500 for Oxfam’s efforts to reduce poverty in the region.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped, especially our most excellent support crew Penny and Deidre, without whom we would have been totally stumped.  Former Trailwalkers themselves, their experience saved us much pain and failure!  Thanks too, to everyone who sponsored us.

Excellent finish!

Never Mind the Outsourcing…

So with all the globalising efforts going on thesedays, we sometimes encounter people from other countries who are here in our workplace. They have come to our land, to learn our skills, and take them (and the work they embody) back to the foreign shores where they can be performed for a fraction of the price.

I was speaking with one of the guys the other day, and telling him about the Oxfam Trailwalker event. I mentioned how there are a significant number of people the world over who search for several hours each day, just looking for fresh water to drink. That’s what makes things like the Trailwalker, and Dean Kamen’s Water Distiller such important things.

And my workmate said “Yes, it’s like that in my home town. My father will go out at five in the morning and collect condensation for us to have as drinking water.”

And all *I* need to do if I want more water is turn the tap on faster.

Take my job… Take my Daughter’s job…  Really, we’ll make do.

Let them keep on walking…

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ve been walking a bit lately…

We’ve been training as a team for the Oxfam Trailwalker event, and the highlights have included:

• Walking eight hours around the North Shore coast from Devonport to Castor Bay
• Doing the 16-Kilometre Coast-to-Coast walk from Auckland Central to Mangere twice in eight hours or so
• Walking from Kevin and Trish’s place in Three Kings out to the Otuataua Stonefields and back

We’ve been encountering heat, muesli bars, rain, sunscreen,  blisters and <eeek> chafing, which for reasons of taste we don’t have pictures of

It’s good to be able to stop at the end of the day, but scarey to think that if we do that on the night of the event in April, we’ll only be a third of the way there!

Overheard at the Gym…

Gym Instructor: Hey Pete. How ya’ doin?
Pete: Been walking all weekend, got a *massive* blister on the sole of my foot.
Gym Instructor: You know what this *means* don’t you?
Pete: Er… “Harden up?”
Gym Instructor: I’m *glad* we’re on the same page with this, Pete.

Eighteen Kilometres in Three Hours…

A quick stop at the top of Titirangi Road hill...

Half of the Trailwalker team during a training walk this evening. Stopping at the the  Titirangi Road roundabout. Fresh as a daisy, and then some

Walking the Trail…

Eight kilometres in four hours. Okay so that may not sound very speedy, given that our first double-return-trip up Mount Eden was ten kilometres in about two hours, and our first trip out to Titrangi from Avondale was fourteen kilometres in two hours and twenty minutes.

But last night’s training run was through the Montana Heritage Trail in the Waitakere Ranges, our first completely off-road trip.

The ground was muddy underfoot, and slippery. I just handled it in my boots, while Kevin and Trish were in running shoes. I guess I’m just *eeek* soft. We had a few spills, but no broken bones, and no blisters (for me anyway) this morning!

The scenery would have been great if we’d had time to admire the view. But it was sadly a case of Second star to the right, and then straight on till morning. We’re not there for the view. Please visit our team site, and become one of our fantastic sponsors!