'ning all

Bubble put her back out on Friday, so no music fest for us, just a trip to the hospital. She's now well ensconsed, with her brass "service" bell. The doc says she should be OK by Monday. Life can be so cruel.

I went down to the fest last night and saw a Japanes band; The 5-6-7-8s, a brit band; The Cooper Temple Clause some yank nutters called Waxed Apple and a DJ computer thingy by a group called Robot. All top, frankly. Off again today, hopefully with Bubble in tow, to see Aqualung.

Meanwhile, I didn't sleep too well last night so I've spent the last 4 hours (I kid you not) doing this;



Bomber out

Swifty

someone pointed me to this site

Individuals outside North and South America - Subscribe to OED Online - Oxford English Dictionary

OED charges 195 New English Pounts PLUS VAT for access to their online dictionary. Wonder how many takers they have.

Elitist bastards

Bubble's not well (too much sauce last night, methinks) so we're off to the music fest a bit late. I'm bored, so I made this



it's my first EVER animation and it took me an unbelievable amount of time to get right so have it anyhow. Gave me huge amounts of trouble; one ball kept getting ahead of the other, then they bumped in the middle and I couldn't do anything to STOP IT. An insight into how being a parent must feel, I guess.


Out

Morning people

so I took this personality disorder test and here are the results

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	High
Antisocial:	Moderate
Borderline:	Moderate
Histrionic:	High
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

apparently I am borderline schitzophrenic and an attention seeker. Or perhaps I am a cunt. Who knows (well; Dunc is bound to, but there you are)

Oh joy of joys, we have the day off today. Some Chinese festival. Anyhoo, it's also the Rockit festival, so 3 days of sitting on the grass getting drunk and listening to local bands. Top; we need much more of this in HK.

Bomber out

'ning all

It's toy time in the Bomber household. I've been waiting for this for 2 years; the OQO.

OQO stands for something clever but actually means "really small shiny computer". This unit was originally announced in April '02 and is testament to my geekery that I have been following it like a lovelorn puppy ever since. It won 2 vaporware awards ('03 and '04). and has had a shipping date that's slipped more often than a Catholic priest's vestment. Finally; it's out.




OOOOOOhhh ... shiny

I was sent this review by a fellow lovelorn puppy today, a very positive (almost informercial...hmm) piece. In counterpoise, this quite negative review on CNET

Includes comparisons with Sony U50 and Sharp Actius. Conclusion;

Size; OQO wins big (or small, depends how you ... well anyway)

Battery life; OQO loses to Sony, but not by a hell of a lot

Battery life (Higher numbers indicate better performance)BAPCo
MobileMark 2002 battery life in minutes

• Sony VAIO VGN-U50 - 163
• Sharp Actius MM20 - 148
• OQO Model 01 - 135

Computing power; OQO a very poor third

Mobile application performance (Higher numbers indicate better performance)BAPCo MobileMark 2002 performance rating

• Sony VAIO VGN-U50 - 105
• Sharp Actius MM20 - 98
• OQO Model 01 - 53

I'm not too sure about CNET reviews. Generally I find it a very useful site, but they have been accused of bias in the past (although MAC fans will say anything...). The review screams "1st Gen hardware; wait for model 02!" but that sort of attutude is not what has had me hanging about on tech sites for the last 2 years or so.

My thoughts;

For me OQO is undeniably cool (although CNET claims it runs hot; so does my TP X31 so not unexpected, I suppose) and beats the pants off the Sony visually. 2KUSD? a bit pricey, but it's shiny so I could get over that. Computing power I could live with and is only to be expected with the form factor. How Sony manage to be twice as fast in benchmarks I suppose just goes to show that the Crusoe is as slow as everyone says. Screen res I think is fine, at least they use the whole frontage, unlike the Sony. Battery life is a real let down; what of the 6-8 hours I recall being touted by OQO in '02? 2+ is really not enough. Trading off computing power for battery life is something I could definitely rationalise; but losing out on both? Also, XP Tablet is not being used, which is really wierd; I (and others on this form) had assumed that integration of XPt was one reason fro the shipping delay. Whatever with that.

'Merkins will get first bite of the shipping cherry, no doubt. Only fair really, after all Hong Kong is NORMALLY a great place to be based for grabbing the latest tech; it's only fair we miss out some times (poo...) Then they have a psycho for a president (and we have a lapdog for a PM) so it all evens out in the big picture ;-)

Conclusion; If there are any left when my bonus comes in (Feb '05) then I might sack off the plans to get a projector and splurge on some OQO loveliness, otherwise, I'll wait for better battery life.

One final thing; that gorgeous case. That will end up in some computer Hall of Fame in years to come, I guarantee it.

Sorry; went on longer than intended

Bomber out

Fuck me; an appendix ... specs of the machines in the CNET test

OQO Model 01
Windows XP Professional; 1GHz Crusoe TM 5800; 256MB DDR SDRAM; Silicon Motion Lynx3DM; Toshiba MK2004GAL 20GB 4,200rpm
Sharp Actius MM20
Windows XP Home; 1GHz Efficeon TM 8600; 512MB SDRAM, Mobility Radeon 16MB; Hitachi DK14FA-40 20GB 4,200rpm
Sony VAIO VGN-U50
Windows XP Home; 900MHz Celeron; 256MB DDR SDRAM 333MHz; Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME 64MB; Toshiba MK2004GAL 20GB 4,200rpm

Oh Fuck Me

you really have to look at this Guardian article. It contains some of the most candid letters I have ever seen in a newspaper, including direct threats to life and TONS of sweary stuff.

Backstory;

Last week The Guardian launched Operation Clark County to help readers have a say in the American election by writing to undecided voters in the crucial state of Ohio. In the first three days, more than 11,000 people requested addresses.

Result;

What they did not consider is that, having already trampled over everyone else's opinions and policies, Americans would be VERY upset about anyone trying to have a hand in their elections. Some of the better excerpts;

Consider this: stay out of American electoral politics. Unless you would like a company of US Navy Seals - Republican to a man - to descend upon the offices of the Guardian, bag the lot of you, and transport you to Guantanamo Bay, where you can share quarters with some lonely Taliban shepherd boys. United States

and my personal favorite from "the tooth fairy";

Have you not noticed that Americans don't give two shits what Europeans think of us? Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to NOT vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies ... I don't give a rat's ass if our election is going to have an effect on your worthless little life. I really don't. If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full of shitty food and yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels and Berlin, dipshit. Oh, yeah - and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals. Wading River, NY

Of course the upshot is that the campaign WAS badly conceived. Several people wrote in to say they supported it, but several more thought that it was foolish in the extreme and would get people in a "goddammit if those stinkin' limeys are going to take over our fair land. MARTHA!; get my cane, we're going to the polls..." sort of mood

Then Bush wins and the Guardian is blamed for it.

Gripping stuff

Bomber out

Arternoon

After all the ranting about the electronic voting, the Bush govenership has come up with this easy way to make your preference known.

----Limk updated; thanks Smudge----

I voted Bush (apparently)

Bomber out

Morning all

Sorry for recent lack if interesting coverage but, frankly, there's fuck all interesting going on. Anyone wants to send me photies / stuff about their infinitely more interesting life, please feel free to do so. If they're any good I'll post them. In fact, if they're shitty and boring I'll post them.

Meanwhile, Scott Bateman has a good animated poilitical ad here which does a good job of summarising the US pres. election nasties

Oh, and this from some nutcase in Wisconsin;



Nice sculpture, he claims it's also an antigravity machine. [scratches chin]

Bomber out