http://silicontrip.net/~mark/ Random thoughts and projects. en-us Mon, 09 Feb 2004 11:10:03 EST Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:35:16 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/main.xml mark's perl script silicontrip.net silicontrip.net 5 http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081230.html I've made a section of my website available to my Audio related coding. (Very similar to my lavtools video section) Check out the Lib sound utilities. 30 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081230.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081227.html For Christmas the children got a book called Gallop by Rufus Butler Seder. Which features animation by using a cover sheet of black vertical stripes. So I decided to do my own. 27 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081227.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081216.html I managed to restore a badly scratched DVD last night, with the help from some toothpaste and hacked up dd_restore. 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081216.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081203.html I saw a bug in the train dot matrix in carriage display this morning. 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081203.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081026.html My uncle, who works at the Synchrotron, invited me to their open day. This is what I saw. 26 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20081026.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080718.html I found some documentation about getting OSX to convert a jad and a jar to a cod file suitable for downloading on Blackberry 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080718.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080710.html Although there is lots of information on how to get midlets working on Xcode. Xcode version 3.0 has some changes that makes those instructions fail. Hopefully this will correct those failures. 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080710.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080707.html I have added some features to libav2yuv. 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080707.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080625.html Still trying to work out the best way to build mjpegutils as a universal library? These are some more detailed instructions. 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080625.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080620.html It's only taken me how long? But now I've written a small perl script that generates an xml file in the form of an rss feed. So everytime I write a new article, I can run the script and generate a new feed. 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080620.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080619.html I've spent some time creating a YUV video player which uses Core Video. This is a universal application and requires the mjpegutils library installed. I'm trying to work out how to include the dynamic library in the executable bundle. Any help would be appreciated. 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080619.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080612.html This is more for my benefit as there is probably no way I'll remember these instructions by myself... 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080612.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080611.html I complain alot about people who don't know how to make efficient use of technology and take a proverbial sledge hammer to putting a lid on a jar. 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080611.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080610.html I was away over the queens birthday weekend and didn't have Image Magick or NetPBM installed on the laptop I took away with me. However I discovered that Leopard has a command called sips which can be used for scaling, rotation and image conversion. I've also checked on my panther machine and sips is available there too. 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080610.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080607.html On the First Sunday of each month the model railway club get out their trains to run on the model railway near Gosford. It was fortunate the we had booked a birthday party there and I did get to ride on the 7 inch gauge trains. 07 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080607.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080606.html Ok, this is retrospective news. Now that I have the pictures online, I might aswell let everyone know! That I snuck off and got Married! 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080606.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080604.html I'm heading off to the Central coast today for about 6 days, with the family. I'm not sure how driving for 12 hours with two small children is going to go. But hopefully the portable DVD player will keep them going. 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080604.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080512.html I've added more entries to the macosx command line. 12 May 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080512.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080510.html Due to a change in the RC3 release of mjpegutils none of my tools will compile. I have made changes to all my code to work under rc3. 10 May 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080510.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080421.html Why? because it's faster. Check out the lavtools as always. 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080421.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080408.html The 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Gala was shown on channel 10 on the 31st March. 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080408.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080328.html Being driven into the side of is not really my fault. 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080328.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080326.html Apple have some very funky effects with their Core Image framework. Me, being the yuv video guru (in training) decided that interfacing the 2 would be very cool. Funky Core Image effects on a YUV video stream, very cool. 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080326.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080318.html OK, not really new, I've been running my mail server on a G3 with 384meg of ram for some time now, but only on 2, 4 gig SCSI disks. I know that 4 gig doesn't sound like much, but for mail, it's quite a bit. 18 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080318.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080305.html I was fascinated by a particular pattern from the Spirograph book, which I had a Spirograph set when I was a child. I still remember the ring and wheel dimensions today (being 105 / 52) The pattern troubled me, as I really desired to draw it but never mastered the pen control needed. 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080305.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080304.html Yeah, yeah, yeah the probe is back Yeah, yeah, yeah the probe is back back, back, back from his magical journey 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080304.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080303.html I've just completed my yuvcrop tool, which can be used to detect matting in yuv sources. It can also be used to crop and matte a yuv video stream. 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080303.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080225.html I discovered a bug in my libav2yuv code today, which causes it to drop frames. It appears to be a problem with avcodec_decode_video not decompressing the frame for some reason. It does not set the frameFinished flag, but indicates that data was decompressed. The source file is mpeg4 so is frame based rather than packet based and the decoder is not waiting for more data. I've changed my source to handle this unexpected behaviour. 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080225.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080211.html ReelTime Infotainment (not ReelTime Media) entered voluntary Administration today. As such we cease to be employed by ReelTime Infotainment yet are being paid to the 15th. 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080211.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080207.html I've written Arcade Fighter as a java applet so you can play it right here. I guess I should write instructions on how to play the game. For those of you who don't know. Arcade Fighter is a simulation of a Collectors card game a friend of mine, Hi Rob, made. He got me to make the simulation so he could play test it. The original application is written so that the computer can play itself and statistics about the game are recorded. The Applet however you play the computer, for one game. 07 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080207.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080201.html I said I might learn how to write a java applet, so here it is The timetable data shown in real time for the Belgrave Lilydale train lines. 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20080201.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071207.html Either this spider or my download script is broken, when I see a web access log entry like this... 07 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071207.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071129.html So I wrote this a few months back when I got bored. It's a different way of looking at the train timetable. It's written in cocoa and Perl using CamelBones Uses the timetable from Connex's website and is animated with the current time. 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071129.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071114.html I probably should've written this a few years back. This is a compilation of useful OSX (only) command line tools. If you know of other useful OSX only commands let me know! 14 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071114.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071010.html I've been starting to feel the call of DJing and beat mixing, even dusted of my Vestax's and spun some vinyl. Being so out of practice I decided to go back to what I know best, manipulating audio by programming. 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20071010.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070928.html I recently decided to honour my inner child and program a graphical train network, showing the timetable data. As the project progressed I realised I needed a real time graphic display using CamelBones and perl. 28 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070928.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070915.html Despite the fact that usb 2.0 is rated at 480kbit and Firewire is only rated at 400kbit. Why do I manage to get 25 Megabytes per second over firewire and only 15 Megabytes per second over usb 2.0? 15 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070915.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070914.html While making a backup image of a CD, I used the /dev/disk2 device rather than the /dev/disk2s0 device and ended up with a file that was larger than expected. The file was larger by a factor of 2352 / 2048. The first 16 bytes of the file looked like this: 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070914.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070913.html I get bored and I write video filters. Or else I gather up all the filters I've made recently and put them on my website. Check it out 13 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070913.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070827.html Any Modern operating system that REQUIRES a floppy disk to perform an install is wrong. 27 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070827.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070815.html Ok so I discovered this a few months ago. However the FFMpegX build of ffmpeg does not contain the latest libraries (not that this will be a problem for long) However I decided to write my own YUV4MPEG writer based on the libav video decoding library. 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070815.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070810.html I do have a couple of typed password sshd servers on my network, just incase I end up needing to ssh in from an unknown machine. 10 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070810.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070715.html I lost my phone while flying back from Sydney Yesterday. So I decided to purchase a Blackberry. Of course I'm waiting for my Sim to be sent out by mail and so decided to get a pre-paid sim. Vodafone's system was down so I could not register and use their sim. After some bitching to them, I went to optus and purchased a pre-paid sim there. I was unable to download any IM software for the blackberry, the main reason I purchased it, because Blackberries site only supports IE and Active X. I'm currently on support email with them trying to find a workaround. They suggested downloading IE Tab for firefox, which I immediately knew wouldn't work. Oh and look IE Tab is only for Windows. The software that comes with the blackberry for the mac is fairly hideous. Firstly it REQUIRED all other applications to be shut down. And then it would not see my Blackberry until I rebooted. I expect these sort of behaviours from Windows or Pre 10 Macos and in the early days of OSX this was a little more common. But not after 7 years of OSX development, do I think that Shut down all other applications Requires reboot I have no idea why it wanted to shut down every other application, but it wouldn't continue until after that was the case. As for rebooting, have the developers not heard of the command kextload? I have see a program called the missing sync for mac, though it costs 40 USD. I'm starting to find that the blackberry is simply a new market for commercial developers and network carriers to cash in on, I'm not happy with this. Trying to find out install software on the blackberry was also a little painful, most resources on the web deals with windows which uses very different software. It appears that there is a bug in the Pocketmac, which it doesn't handle multiple "cod" files. A cod file is just a zip file and comes with an xml file (alx) which describes the .cod needed to run. cods can be hierachical, meaning two cods can live inside one, the alx file describes both of these cod files, so that the blackberry knows what to run. However the Pocket mac software expects all the cod files to be in the same directory as the alx and not within the 'composite' cod file. Sorry for the poor explanation, but I'm still just learning. I have installed and run some Trial IM applications, but they will expire within a week, so I'd really like to get some free ones before I'm satisfied. Apart from them expiring, they seem reasonable. Where's my GNU? One of blackberries solution to needing IE, was to use the Blackberries in built browser, however I'm having problems with that too. It won't start saying "No Browser Configuration Service Book Entries" please contact your carrier. Of course Simplus, say "we don't support blackberry, go away" Optus say "you shouldn't be able to do what you are doing on the blackberry without a special blackberry plan, and because you're with a reseller we can't help you, go away" Blackberry are saying "It shouldn't work without a special blackberry plan, go speak to your carrier" Looks like I made the mistake of assume the blackberry works like every other phone that can run java midlets, apart from the push email system that I'm not overly interested in. But it sounds like all the carriers and blackberry themselves are saying, you require an MDS service (whatever that is exactly) to use anything at all. As opposed to using TCP over GPRS. I'm starting to think about selling it... 15 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070715.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070630.html The trip from the central cost took 10 hours and 8 minutes. 3 stops for refuelling. The Albury bypass is awesome. I was very happy to see the sign "Albury Next 3 exits" 30 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070630.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070209.html That's what happens when I ask Telstra to make some changes on my phone line. They break my DSL service and no one is willing to accept responsibility until I have confirmed that it is not my router playing up. Of course my router is in Melbourne and I'm in Sydney. So it took me a week, Thanks heaps Scott, to get someone out to my place and confirm that my router was infact working correctly. Fortunately it took them about an hour to fix it after that. 09 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070209.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070122.html Fortunately I got up at 5am to avoid the traffic travelling to Sydney. I could've got up later and been stranded on the Central Coast. Would've been a good excuse not to go to work, "Sorry bushfires have blocked the road." 22 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070122.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070119.html Today I spent most of the day helping rebuild the video desk in the ABC trailer In time for Australia Day. So now I've got the Bob the Builder theme, Fifi and the Flowertots, going through my head. Can we fix it, chroma key and Mix it? 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070119.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070101.html Fire works on St Kilda beach and some of my favourite things. 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20070101.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20061226.html What happens when you take 4 LCD monitors and put a driving simulator on them? A couple of laps around Mt Panorama and I'll let you know. 26 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20061226.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20061007.html It's been a bit of a difficult week, so I decided to escape by driving south. Somewhere I had never driven before. Found the Coast road on the way to Wollongong (route 68) and a beach and watched the moon rise.o 07 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20061007.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060918.html To the tune of Auld Lang Syne. 18 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060918.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060915.html Now I've seen it all in Sydney. Becareful that your car doesn't get sucked into this traffic black hole. :-) 15 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060915.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060910.html I thought that Sydney could not make a good road. I drove out to Berrowa Waters looking for a good road. And instead found a narrow winding road that was too dangerous for any fun driving (read blind corners on coming traffic) I then saw on the map what looked like a good road. Bobbin head road. but again as soon as the fun stuff started, the road narrowed and became a bit hairy for oncoming traffic. 10 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060910.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060901.html If that was a regular winter in Sydney, I'm coming back next year for winter. 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060901.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060705.html It's taken me some time to work out what is wrong with Sydney roads. At face value they seem to have the same features of Melbourne roads, 3 lane dual carriage way, albeit with a tiny little concrete median strip in the middle. However it took me an hour to travel 15 km up the Pacific Highway to Hornsby and I'm wondering why. 05 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060705.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060701.html This is the park and cove near Helena's place. There's Iron Cove Bridge all lit up and you may be able to see Birkenhead point in the background. And who's cheeky bird is that? 01 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060701.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060630.html This is the view of Naremburn, Willoughby and Chatswood. 30 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060630.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060621.html It gets dark very early here in Sydney. I've realised that it is because we are much further east than Melbourne, yet we are in the same timezone. However I have noticed it gets light much earlier too. Good for those winter mornings. 21 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060621.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060617.html Went to the Blue mountains this weekend with Helena. Stopped at a cafe and went for a walk. Then stayed at a hotel and had a spa and sauna. Learnt that Sydney places it's no left turn signs after the road, that you are not meant to turn left down. And headed the wrong way down a one way street. 17 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060617.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060614.html I am now an official Reeltime Sydney Staff member. 14 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060614.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060612.html Learnt about iWave today, then went to Luna Park and had lunch at Darling harbour. 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060612.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060529.html That is a Career Advancing Move. I stayed in the office this weekend playing with Digibeta machines, capturing movies and assembling multiparts on the timeline in Edius. This could be good for the video production I want to do. 29 May 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060529.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060522.html Went to Video Ezy to rent some dvds while staying here in Sydney. However Video Ezy have a 5km policy. You must live within 5km of the store to rent a video from them. We're from Melbourne and work has us staying in the area. We don't have a bill showing where we are living as work are paying for the apartment. We don't have a business card showing the Sydney address of the office as we are from the Melbourne office. 22 May 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060522.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060515.html Sydney has become a popular destination for me, with work sending me up there almost every week now. Yeah, I'm flying up again next week too. 15 May 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060515.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060505.html Techies, know how to get it done. Managers, know who can get it done. Upper managment, know that it is getting done. CEO, know what needs to be done. It's Amy's birthday today. Do I need reminding? 05 May 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060505.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060422.html On my trip I met a nice tiger with a white fire breathing beast. (or the smaller cousin to the fire breathing beasts) I'm not sure who was more scared. 22 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060422.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060412.html I am on holiday from the 12th to the 30th of April. Woke at 6am. Got ready and dropped a CD off at a friends. By 7:45 I was filling up near Lilydale. By 9:30 I was at Benalla, it didn't feel like 2 hours. I had done this run many times in the Probe and it always felt longer. I stopped at Jungiong for lunch. Realised how difficult it is to use the speaker on my phone while driving at 110 km/h. The noise makes it difficult to hear. By 17:00 I was on the outskirts of Sydney and trying to work out how to get to the St Leonards office. At 18:45 I was working out how to get from St Leonards office to my friends place in Homebush. After taking the wrong turn and a trip through Lane Cove, I did eventually get there. 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060412.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060410.html 2nd wedding anniversary :-( 10 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060410.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060330.html Work sent me up to Sydney from Monday to Wednesday. This is what is looked like. 30 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060330.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060324.html I had a thought to buy an airbrush a couple of years ago. The thought came to me again, recently so I decided not to ignore it this time. 24 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060324.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060321.html Remember when you were a little kid, and you wanted an ice cream? You knew you were going to get one. And the excitement and anticipation of knowing that you were about to get an ice cream, made you dizzy with desire. You would jump up and down, screaming, ice cream, ice cream. You heard the ice cream van coming. And all you could think about is an ice cream. You saw the ice cream van, and you would go running chasing after it. Just wanting that ice cream. 21 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060321.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060319.html I went to a night club where half of the club had "no smoking" signs posted. I noticed people light up in this side and were then approached by security to go to the other side of the club. 19 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060319.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060317.html One technology that is scaring me is portable entertainment systems. Such as the PSP or iPod. They are great if you are stuck in a place for a few hours with nothing to do. However people are using them to cut themselves off from the world around them. I've been noticing how many people refuse to look at me, or quickly glance away when they see that I am looking. People are afraid of each other. They are too scare to look at each other and don't feel like they are part of the world they live in. One woman I walked past maintained and held eye contact, she smiled and I nodded back, I kept walking. I felt like I was part of this community of people. 17 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060317.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060314.html I started my new job today. It was in the city and the Commonwealth games are about to start. So I woke an hour earlier, left at 6:20 and was in the city at 7:15. I then spent about 10 minutes looking for somewhere to park. 27 dollars later I had somewhere near by. I then had a bit of a sleep on the couch in the foyer, until people arrived to let me in. 14 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060314.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060311.html Amy brought the Hilux around today so I could pick up a drier. This got me thinking about all the manly domestic items around the house. I came up with three that deserve a mention. 11 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060311.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060310.html So I got bored this evening and decided to do some drawings. But first I thought I should show off what I've done. Yeah I cheated on some of them, they're traced. 10 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060310.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060304.html Oh dear. It appears I have developed a physical addiction for a substance which triggers the release of the neuro transmitter endorphin. I've found that I've been addi ng more and more chillis to my food. Now I know why. (quote taken from wikipedia) The pain caused by capsaicin stimulates the brain to produce endorphins, natural opioids which act as analgesics and produce a sense of well-being. 04 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060304.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060303.html Safeway and Coles both allow you to get 4 cents off petrol, if you shop in their stores. There are about 3 Safeway near home so I tend to have a lot of these dockets floating around. So I decided one day to stop at a Safeway Caltex service station. I pulled up to the pump got out and saw a sign on the premium fuel "cannot be used with discount" Got back in my car and drove off. Putting non premium fuel in my car is not an option for me. Your discount fuel offer, is not an offer of any worth for me. 03 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060303.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060226.html Is what I want what I really wanted? If I thought getting it was difficult. The moments after having it are torture. Sex and love is it possible to have one without the other. Or does the emotional release of one show the other to be lacking. Aware of the emotional disconnection I needed to get the other. Not healthy. The physical reality sickens me. Do I hate myself? Do I hate my desires? What's next? Oh yeah, a friend came over for the weekend. I picked her up from the airport and then drove to the mountain, we were going to stay and watch the sunset. However we arrived about an hour too early and visibility was poor. So we went out for hot Indian curry. It's been a while since I've been hurt by a curry, breathed a chilli in the wrong way. 26 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060226.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060223.html What is it with drivers who cannot determine a speed to drive at for themselves? They must drive at exactly the same speed as the car next to them. Even if one car was doing a different speed, all of a sudden as soon as they get near they both do the same speed. Therefore they take up the entire two lanes (some times 3) of the road and not allowing anyone to pass. Guys I'll let you in on a little secret road rule here "Keep left, unless overta king." You are not keeping left and you, sure as hell, aren't overtaking. You can be fined for not obeying this rule. STOP BLOCKING TRAFFIC and move over. 23 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060223.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060220.html I didn't think that things could get more turbulent. Feelings changing constantly. However I did ask for it this weekend. I was at a Tantric workshop and what a wild ride it was. Moments of joy, moments of despair. Alone but in company. I'm now finding where I've hidden my heart. 20 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060220.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060218.html Does receiving a 3 am drunken phone call mean anything? 18 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060218.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060210.html I went to a friends place this evening to watch a couple of videos. I was surprised at how moved I was by the movie Ladyhawke. Upon realising that they could not be together. It's been a long time since I've felt that overwhelming sadness. Good. I'm at least feeling again. So with the sadness in heart, I went for a drive. Ended up on a dirt road and casually flicked the tail out a little, testing the water. Back over the mountain and down. I realised that driving this way is a form of meditation for me, my mind is so focussed on cornering, breaking, gears and accelerating, reading the road. That I have little else going through my mind. No idle chatter. So I had a good meditation and was pretty much in my power by the time I refueled. Now I know this is one of the silliest male challenges. But the blue light windscreen washers, Electric blue XR6 with a steeley on the back deserved to be owned. And Owned he was. I don't know why but it felt so good. I started laughing. Shiva! 10 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060210.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060206.html A friend from work said that there was a celebrity survivor where there was a limited amount of heroine, cocaine and amphetamines. And they are rationed out to each of the players. Each person who can't take it anymore gets ejected from the Island. But My favourite idea is to lock two world enemies in a room together and give them a tab of XTC. Let the love flow. I'd like to see that. 06 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060206.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060205.html What a rollercoaster ride of a weekend. Lots of highs and lots of lows. I realise I love to interact with people, love to talk and listen. Have I not been listening to myself? I was hoping to get a response from the woman I was talking to last week. She ended up mentioning the B word, we'll just be friends. Someone else started talking to me. By about lunch time, I had to go out for groceries, I had given her my mobile. Spent the rest of the afternoo n at a friends housewarming and smsing this new friend. Am going out to a pub with her Sunday afternoon. In the evening I went out with my old boss, we compared WRXs and had Thai then nearly got wasted on a gorgeous Tokay but I had to drive home. got a message from my new friend saying how rolling drunk she was. I spent some of the morning cleaning. Who knows what might happen. I arranged to get a hair cut at 2:30. Another message saying how hung over she was and had to cancel. Dealing with rejection here. A common theme in my life. What are you trying to show me? Or how do I deal with it? I went and got cat food and carpet cleaner. Came home, had a shower and went and got my hair cut, the stylist was running late, so I went to the near by shopping centre and had an iced chocolate and watched the people walking past. Not much power there. No recognition. Talked music production with the stylist. Came home, got up on the roof and cleaned my guttering, with the pressure cleaner. Got dirt and leaves over everything. :-) Friend from Bali smsd me saying how aroused she was, so I called her, but I really wasn't in the mood. Long distance anything is not what I need right now. Sigh. Finished the white, and moved onto Jamacan rum and coke. I am really wanting touch at the moment. Finally someone responded to those dating messages. Someone who had a wicked sense of humour, like myself, spent the rest of the night laughing over stupid IM messages. My head is hurting now, better drink more water. 05 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060205.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060129.html Didn't go clubbing last night. Became too fixed on picking up, not healthy. I wasn't expecting to meet anyone today but things just have a way of happening. I'm not sure how it started, I felt like asking questions, talking, the next thing I know I'm asking for her email address. I walked away feeling incrediably good, been a while since I've had that sort of interaction. I really need it at the moment. 29 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060129.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060122.html Went out clubbing last night. Had my eye on a few females but I was there to dance. When I arrived it was a lot of commercial dance, nothing too good or too bad. By 11:30 they were playing crap, but crap that everyone else liked the crowd formed a big circle and lifted people up onto their sholders. By midnight I was ready to leave. Fortunately the beats started happening again. This other guy and myself were the only two on the dancefloor at this time. He asked me where all the women were? I said that they were watching us! Soon everyone was on the dancefloor, including the woman I had my eye on, tried making eye contact with her but it wasn't meant to be. I danced for about 40 minutes straight before she left. I was definitely in my power at that stage and didn't care where I sat, resting. I drove home quite briskly, windows down, music up!!! 22 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060122.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060117.html I spent the week after new years at a retreat, met some fantastic people. But reality returns and I am now dealing with living alone, getting out and doing the things I want. I drove to Chelsea beach on Saturday and watched the waves and people walk by. Sunday night I drove over the great dividing range to Glenburn, On the way there a guy in a yellow BA XR8 ute wound down his window, commenting how well my car sticks to the road. Thanks man. I then turned around and came back. I'd really like to go out clubbing again, it's been so long, all the places I used to go to have closed. Know of any good trance night clubs? 17 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060117.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060110.html I walked around the streets of Coolangatta, looking at people, and saw how many people refuse to look back. Looking at the woman serving at the backery, she looked and smiled and then she refused to look up, still smiling. Was that embarrasment I sensed? I sat on the foreshore eating breakfast, a woman turned up and chained her bike on the table next to me, she started playing with her phone, I watched her and saw her look up at me every now and again. I continued to watch. I was walking past a group of toughs that hang out at the station, I looked at one and stood in my power and refused to look away. The guy called out, asking How's it going? I replied giving him a thumbs up. I'm not afraid anymore. 10 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20060110.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051223.html I picked up my new WRX today. Drove up the mountain, and down the mountain, and up the mountain and down the mountain... 23 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051223.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051222.html Go Karts. Lunch and drinking. All the ingredients for a good Christmas Party. No drinking tonight, I've got a new toy to pick up tomorrow. 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051222.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051214.html The engine in my Probe has started making a very nasty sound over 4000 rpm. I've discovered that this is due to a stuck valve. The cost of repair is looking quite large... 14 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051214.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051211.html I've been meaning to for ages, but I've finally found a good enough reason to write a Neural Net. I've written a generic Neuron class, a Layer Factory, and a Back Propagation class in java to aid in iterpolative image processing. And maybe with Rob's Arcade Fighter. 11 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20051211.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20050920.html There is a constant battle between content producers and pirates. The cinema industry is implimenting technology to stop the Handycappers. (Handy camera capturers) But all this technology is in vain. As they are fighting against the most powerful force on the planet. The people. 20 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20050920.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20050819.html I've had feedback from John Rehwinkel saying that the headers have changed in 10.3. 19 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20050819.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20050818.html So this is supposed to be good for business, right? I've heard that before, Windows is good for business because everyone else is using it. Why would you bother running an incompatible operating system? Choice. I choose not to run what the masses run. I want to be different. I like the fact that I am. I like the fact that I can do with my OS what I want because I know how to use it. I'm not spoon fed how to click. CPU architecture is also a choice. This is a sad day indeed for choice. The x86 architecture has been slowly irradicating all choice. PA-RISC, Alpha and now the PPC. If I want a "personal computer" that runs on something other than x86, I no longer can do so. Why is lack of choice bad? Monopolies are bad. Now that there is no choice (there are only 2 x86 cpu manufacturers) we can see CPU prices slowly being raised. Consumers slowly being squeezed. Why? Any other CPU manufacturer has been removed from the game. 18 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20050818.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20041129.html I've been playing with the harddrive and network adapter for my PS2. Along with the memory card exploit I've found some tools that allow you to transfer game images (iso) to and from the harddrive, of course they are mostly windows :-P 29 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20041129.html http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20040209.html I've got a powerboard problem, I have to share about 15 plugs with only 10 outlets. So occasionally My machine will be booted without my scanner being powered. This is a pain to reboot to detect the scanner, especially when I'm compressing an mpeg file in the background. 09 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST http://silicontrip.net/~mark/htmlview.php/20040209.html