Nathan's Blog

My Dad

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:50:00 +0000

There are only 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary and those who don't.

I like my Dad's reply to this :)

Don't understand binary? Click for explanation

How To Get Songs Off An iPod - Mac OS X

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:35:00 +0000

Here is a good FREE way to copy music from an iPod to your computer using Mac OS X.

Note: I'm using an intel Macbook Pro running OS X Leopard v10.5.6 and a sixth generation 160GB iPod Classic.

1. Install the latest version of MacFUSE
http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/downloads/list

2. Install iPodDisk (currently at 2.01b)
http://code.google.com/p/ipoddisk/downloads/list

3. Plug in your iPod and make sure disk mode has been enabled

4. Launch iPodDisk.app

iPodDisk will open a Finder window containing all your music categorised into the following folders: Albums, Artists, Compilations, Genres, Playlists.

Find the music you want and copy it.

As mentioned on the Google Code How To page for iPodDisk, it is highly experimental stuff so you will encounter a few bugs.

Bugs I found when using it:

* After about ten minutes it may come up with unexpected read/write errors. If this happens close iPodDisk, eject iPodDisk, reopen iPodDisk.app and copying should work again.

* You can't copy additional folders while a transfer from iPodDisk -> Destination is in progress.
Avoid browsing iPodDisk and copying additional folders while a transfer is taking place and you should be fine.

* Bugs with Case. iPodDisk displays artists and albums case-sensitively. Say you have the artist Metronomy saved in your ID3 tags as Metronomy and METRONOMY these will show up in iPodDisk in two distinct artist folders which can cause problems when copying both folders to your computer. OS X will complain saying you already have an artist of that name in your destination when copying both folders.

Even with these bugs iPodDisk is a good FREE way I've found to intuitively (don't have to muck about with iPod system folders) get songs off of an iPod using Mac OS X.

Visit iPodDisk's Google Code page for more info on iPodDisk: http://code.google.com/p/ipoddisk/

Other Ways

A good paid app to get songs off your iPod from Mac OS X is Senuti.

Another program I've used in the past is Floola however it takes longer to set up than alternative programs and then I find it buggy when selecting music to copy.

Know a better FREE way to get songs from an iPod in Mac OS X? Please leave a comment.

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Best Songs of March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:20:00 +0000

Cover Image

1. 64revolt - C.A.P.I.P (3:50)
2. Tesla Boy - Spirit Of The Night (4:56)
3. Hercules and Love Affair - You Belong (4:11)
4. Lykke Li - Breaking It Up (Familjen Remix) (4:53)
5. Hercules and Love Affair - Blind (6:18)
6. iamerror - Forest of Fellatio (2:09)
7. Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl (4:21)

Download via Megaupload

7 tracks in playlist, average track length: 4:22
Playlist length: 30 minutes 38 seconds

Compilation Notes
So this monthly is nine days late: I'm sorrrryyy.
I have been pretty busy this month moving out of my rental and back into my parents place (in preparation for the move to the UK - not for fun, I assure you) so I haven't had a lot of time to put these songs together until now.
This is also the reason why there are only seven songs.

I stumbled upon this great index of music: http://postmusic.org/music using the "search Google for mp3s hack" (intitle:index of "artist - song") in March. Three songs in the compilation come from this index of music: 'Tesla Boy - Spirit Of The Night', 'Lykke Li - Breaking It Up' and 'Hey Champ - Cold Dust Girl'.

During March I discovered (through a friend's Last.fm) Hercules and Love Affair which I love - despite previously despising Antony Hegarty's (of Antony and the Johnsons) voice. Once again the music reigns supreme. I love this style of music - I don't know how you'd classify it though. It reminds me of the German trio, Whirlpool Productions which I also love.

Blah blah, okay okay... some honourable mentions.

64revolt - C.A.P.I.P. - found this song via a TweetDeck search for "cyberpunk". This song would get stuck in my head and I HAD to repeat it over and over and over and over.

Tesla Boy - Spirit of The Night - found this via the above mentioned index of music and fell in love with it on first listen. So amazing. If you like this song, definitely check out their EP here: http://www.myspace.com/teslaboysound.

iamerror - Forrest of Fellatio - another Twitter find. This time through a recommendation of the "cybergrind" genre by Skins writer, Jamie Brittain. The chorus of this song gets stuck in my head Tom Hanks big time.

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486DX

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:14:00 +0000

I was going through some old photos and found this one.
Our old 486DX, yeah!

Click to enlarge

I think this was our families third computer?
1st = Commodore 64
2nd = 386? Win3.1
3rd = 486 Win95 - with Weezer film clip on the Win95 demo disc.

I was taking a photo of my website at the time but as you can see it didn't turn out very well.

I loved this computer and would spend a LOT of time on here, making personal web sites, using ICQ, 3D Movie Maker, surfing the net for .midi files, mp3s and playing whatever games I could get my hands on - my faves were: Wacky Wheels, Jones in the Fast Lane, Under a Killing Moon, Tetris and Warcraft 1.

Looking back I never noticed that the model number on our printer was "BJ-200".
I also can't remember why I used such a crappy "Sports Mouse".

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Best Songs of February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:33:00 +0000

Cover Image

1. The Prodigy - Omen (Reprise) (2:14)
2. Ben Sage - All About You VIP (VIP Mix) (7:53)
3. Metronomy - On Dancefloors (4:45)
4. Something with Numbers - Stay With Me Bright Eyes (4:06)
5. Animal Collective - My Girls (5:40)
6. Evol Intent, Spor, Ewun - Levitate (6:36)
7. Sparkadia - Jealousy (4:36)
8. Junior Boys - Bits and Pieces (4:01)
9. Benestrophe - H.I.V. (Test Positive) (6:21)
10. Lykke Li - Little Bit (AutoErotique Bootleg Remix) (3:56)
11. Metronomy - Holiday (4:15)
12. Lily Allen - Back To The Start (4:11)
13. Calyx - Mirror Image (7:26)
14. The Prodigy - Omen (3:36)

Download via Megaupload

14 tracks, average track length: 4:58
Playlist length: 1 hour 9 minutes 36 seconds

Compilation Notes
February has been so-so for me and music. I am pretty much bored of all the songs in my best of February - I've played them too much.
I'm still enjoying Drum & Bass, three D&B songs firmly secured their place in this months list.

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Nerd Tests and Vulgar Learning Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:54:00 +0000

Tests can be fun. I stumbled upon these Nerd Tests and was curious to see how nerdy I am. I am posting this on here as I know a few geeks read this blog and might be interested in taking these (*cough* and posting their results in the comments).

Nerd Test #1

Nerd Test #2

I just took a break from reading my favourite magazine, Scientific American: Mind [Volume 20, Number 1].
I am reading an affecting article about the increased risk of mental illness for children born from older fathers (40yrs old).

Here are some excerpts from the article:

It is widely recognised that a 40-year-old woman has an increased risk of bearing a child with Down syndrome. What is not known is that a 40-year-old man has the same risk of fathering a child with schizophrenia - and even higher odds of his offspring having autism. The risk of bipolar disorder appears to rise as well.

The researchers said that advanced paternal age, as they call it, has also been linked to an increased risk of birth defects, cleft lip and palate, water on the brain, dwarfism, miscarriage and "decreased intellectual capacity."

I do want kids eventually and reading about these risks is making me feel the male equivalent of a woman's biological clock.

Twitter
I have been using Twitter a lot lately - ever since I found the wonderful TweetDeck program - and find it is having a positive influence on how I write. Twitter has a character limit of 140 words so you have to make every word count. I find the limit helps me follow the good writing rule, "omit needless words". I often use too many needless words when I write. I just finished reading "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. He is a master of clear, succinct writing and I find his books are a pleasure to read because of it.

Here are some Twitter related links I have enjoyed recently:

10 Celebrity Twitters Actually Worth Following - Cracked.com
Survey Of Insular Social Media Elite Says: Twitter Is Better Than Facebook For Businesses
TrackThis: Track UPS/Fedex/USPS/DHL Packages by Email, SMS, Twitter or Facebook
TweetCube - Send Files with Twitter
Snipt.org - Share source code on Twitter and the Web
Twitter Fast Growing Beyond Its Messaging Roots - Epicenter from Wired.com
14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users - Kenny Hyder
Surgeons send 'tweets' from operating room - CNN.com

Sync TweetDeck groups between machines
This works on a Windows PC (XP and Vista): Copy the td_26_[username].db from the following directory on the source PC to the same directory on the destination. C://Documents and Settings/[Windows User]/Application Data/TweetDeckFast.F9107117265DB7542C1A806C8DB837742CE14C21.1/Local Store

TweetDeck v0.21.5 - TweetDeck's posterous - Great video walkthrough of TweetDeck's new features
Hashtag search in Twitter
#hashtags - Popular
Be part of a ‘Happening’ « Why, That’s Delightful! - Good explanation of Twitter

My Internet
My internet is now fantastic. It is great having an internet connection that DOESN'T cut out every few hours. The Internode support person told me it was a fault with the copper lines at my exchange, the wires/lines? were not insulated properly. A Telstra technician fixed this up and my net has been running great ever since.

Today I switched to a static IP and set up Port Forwarding for things like Vuze (formerly Azureus) etc. I had set this up on my old modem but forget to set it up when I upgraded my modem to a Billion 7404VGP a few months ago.
Another thing I did today was tweak my Vuze settings for faster downloads. I used this post for tips: 10 Ways To Speed Up Torrent Downloads.

Found
I now walk to and from work instead of using public transport. On my way to work I sometimes find discarded notes. So far I have found two funny written notes on the ground. I am collecting these until I have - oh I don't know - ten or so and will then post them on my blog.
I love finding notes and am a big fan of these websites:

Vulgar Learning Techniques
Today I purchased a Solar System poster from Officeworks.
I didn't pay enough attention at school when we were learning about the planets in our solar system so I decided to get the poster and learn them now, in order of their proximity to the sun.

I used that learning mnemonic where you take the first letter from a list of things you want to remember and make a funny - or in my case, vulgar, always vulgar - sentence out of the letters.
My sentence is: Sun, My Vagina Eats Men Jelly, SUN. So we've got Sun at the start and at the end. This helps me remember: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Shout outs to Pluto - I feel for you bro. Ugghhh I just used bro in a sentence.

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The Best Place In Adelaide To Sell CDs: Leading Edge Music

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:37:00 +0000

Leading Edge Music - Adelaide
127 Rundle Mall
Adelaide SA 5000
Ph 08 8223 2168
Fax 08 8223 2322

I never listen to audio CDs anymore. I cannot remember the last time I laboriously (exaggerated for emphasis) opened a CD case, pulled out a CD (hoping not another bit of plastic falls off in the process) and popped it into a CD-ROM/Stereo. The only CDs I listen to now are burnt mp3 cds for use in my car. The reason for not using audio CDs anymore is that I am always on my computer and mp3 is just way easier.
My CD stereo system broke down over a year ago: I don't miss it one bit.
Wow, welcome to 2003. Yes.

It is for this reason that about a year ago I decided to rip all of my old CDs at 320kbps and then sell them.

What are they Granddad?

I used to sell CDs to Big Star Records until about a year ago when I was offered a measly $20 for a stack of over 30 popular, pristine condition CDs; I like to keep my shit in good condition (and use the word shit as a generic noun placeholder).

What I see when I recall that Big Star experience

It was after this experience that I decided to look for better selling alternatives.

I found out that Leading Edge Music (formerly The Muses) buy non-scratched second-hand CDs and decided to see how much they offered me.
Their prices were much more reasonable, based on how in demand a CD was.

Leading Edge Music's system is great, if your CDs are not scratched and there is a demand for them, an employee will scan the CD's barcode and their computer will tell them how much they will pay for that CD. This is so much better than the Big Star experience of standing in a musty basement, bending over and getting fucked in the ass (once again exaggeration for emphasis) with a variable selling price seemingly pulled out of thin air. On further examination your CDs' selling price is based on which employee you get and their individual perception of your well-looked-after CD's worth. No thank you.

So yes, if you are thinking about selling your old CDs and going 100% digital I highly recommend selling them to Leading Edge Music.
As an aside, I was pleasantly surprised by the great range of DVDs Leading Edge Music stock! When selling my last batch of CDs I had a look around the store and was blown away by their diverse range of DVDs. Art house, Australian, special interest, music, war, health, science, director, comedy, A-Z, every genre and hard to find movie seems to be available.

Here is a receipt from my last CD sale which will give you an idea of how much you get for a CD and what CDs are most in demand.

CD Selling Tips

Put your three best CDs (most in demand, best condition) at the top of your pile.
Creates an expectancy of quality CDs.

Open with a question that gets a "yes" reply.
I usually use, "Do you guys still buy CDs?". - An age-old sales technique which puts the staff member in an agreeable frame of mind.

Find the least biased staff member in the store.
These staff members are more likely to buy all or most of your CDs. Some staff members will reject genres they personally dislike. Look for staff members whose identity doesn't seem to be too tied into music - staff who are just working there for the money. Once you find your mark, return next time at the same time/day increasing your chances of being served by them.

Dress well.
Optional but I always make sure I'm wearing a polo top at least when selling anything.
By dressing well, you're telling the staff member - on a subconscious level - that you take pride in yourself (and your possessions). This makes the staff member expect your goods to be of high quality, by association.

Do you know of a better place in Adelaide than Leading Edge Music to sell CDs to?
If so please leave a comment for me and readers of this blog.
I still have a stack of about 30 more CDs I'm wanting to sell.

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Book Review: Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 13:35:00 +0000

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to Sara's mum for buying me this book for my birthday (my request). I mean no offense with this review.

Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne, published 1864.

I didn't enjoy this book at all.

I read the Puffin Classics English translation; the 'Axel' version.

Originally written in French by Jules Verne this "sci-fi classic" is jumpy, unbelievable and factually incorrect (though forgivable as it was written in 1864). Oh I didn't mention tedious, this book is incredibly tedious. You have to read 3/4 of the book before it gets vaguely interesting. The characters are boring and predictable. Parts of the story which could have been really interesting are instead frequently dismissed. Here's an example:

"True enough the bundle was caught on a projection about a hundred feet above us. Straight away the agile Icelander climbed up like a cat, and in a few minutes the bundle was returned to us. 'Now', said my uncle, 'let us have breakfast, bearing in mind that we may have a long journey in front of us'."

What!? I feel robbed. Why invent such a setback if it's just going to be dismissed in no more than a sentence! I would have loved to have this feat described to me. What was his climbing technique like? Did he ever slip? What in his past made him so cat-like when climbing?
This sort of lazy writing happens a lot in this book.

Here is all you need to know about the stupid, boring characters:

The Professor - He's like, really smart okay! He is the classic "mad professor" archetype. He's not that mad just irresponsible, self-centred and impatient. He is an incredibly annoying plot device used to make this journey believable - oh if anyone could make this journey it is the mad prof. right?

Axel - The teenage narrator and nephew of the professor. From his name you might imagine he is manly and brave: in reality he is a whiny bitch. He is a negative nancy always thinking about or fearing for his life, oh Axel *rolls eyes*. The professor, when not leading Axel to his certain death either scolds or laughs at Axel's healthy cautiousness.

Hans - The group's Icelandic guide (and resident Superhero). He is the strong silent type - oh Hans, what are you thinking about, you're so dreamy. He is too perfect in that he ALWAYS saves the day: salvages rations, retrieves bundles, saves Axel and the prof. from certain death more than once, pickaxes more than two feet into a solid granite wall to retrieve water. His superhero like abilities and unwavering loyalty to Axel and the prof. get old very quickly. If there is ever any danger, don't worry good ol' Hans will save the day. pfffft.

I would not recommend any adult today in 2009 read this book. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose: inaccurate science, loss of your time and unbelievable tedium await. If this book must be read at all it should only be read by children... hmm no, scratch that, just get them to search Wikipedia for "Travel to the Earth's center" and save them from the horrible pseudoscience in this book. Oh, the book also features cousin marriage - yay for 1864!

Best Songs of January 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:06:00 +0000

Monthlies
Back in 2005-2006 Sara, David and myself used to make monthly CD compilations.
Theses monthly CD compilations were made up of our favourite and most listened to songs of that month.

This year I have decided to start this again, partly inspired by sharevari's great Best of 2008 last.fm journal and partly because I wish to pay more attention to the music I am loving each month.

Songs are ordered by song flow and follow Nick Hornby's High Fidelity mixtape rules:

To me, making a tape is like writing a letter — there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again. A good compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do. You've got to kick off with a corker, to hold the attention, and then you've got to up it a notch, or cool it a notch, and you can't have white music and black music together, unless the white music sounds like black music, and you can't have two tracks by the same artist side by side, unless you've done the whole thing in pairs and...oh, there are loads of rules.

- Nick Hornby's High Fidelity

Cover Image

1. Wiley - If You're Going Out, I'm Going Out Too (ft. Blaze, Triggz) (3:20)
2. The Whitest Boy Alive - Burning (3:09)
3. Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars (3:55)
4. The Most Serene Republic - Solipsism Millionaires (4:46)
5. Ewan Pearson - Clashing Egos - Aminjig nebere (I trusted you) (Joakim's Afrobot mix) (5:39)
6. Ladyhawke - My Delirium (4:15)
7. Diode - No Mans Land (5:58)
8. Flight Of The Conchords - Inner City Pressure (3:27)
9. Metronomy - Heartbreaker (4:14)
10. Sparkadia - Too Much To Do (3:10)
11. Wiley - Step By Step (ft. Hot Chip) (3:48)
12. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal (2:27)
13. Metronomy - A Thing For Me (3:30)
14. Thieves Like Us - Miss You (4:42)
15. Pendulum - Propane Nightmares (5:13)
16. Glass Domain - Interlock (1:48)
17. Wiley - Wearing My Rolex (2:51)
18. Sky Residents - Krilia (3:48)

Download via Megaupload

Compilation Notes
This month's songs were influenced heavily by Triple J Hottest 100 research.
Through researching my picks I came across: Wiley, Ladyhawke, Sparkadia and Fleet Foxes.
Another big influence was sharevari's great Best of 2008 last.fm journal. Songs from his best of 2008 include: 'Diode - No Mans Land', 'Ewan Peterson - Clashing Egos - Aminjig nebere (I trusted you) (Joakim's Afrobot mix)' and 'Glass Domain - Interlock'.
I have three drum & bass tracks this month which would make this month's drum & bass count higher than it has ever been. I'm starting to enjoy rougher, dirty drum & bass so this genre may feature more in monthlies to come.

Triple J Hottest 100 - 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:52:00 +0000

My internet is so slow at the moment. I called up Telstra's faults line tonight, they ran a line quality test and confirmed my suspicions: there is a fault with the line. They said they will get a technician out this week. I should have done this ages ago, it's so stupid to be so laissez-faire about something I value so highly, it does not make any sense. I should be seeking out any gain in speed or quality.

Yesterday, January 26th was Australia Day.

Every Australia day Triple J do their Hottest 100 - the 100 best songs of the previous year as voted by the people.
Every year Jut holds a Hottest 100 party and usually wins the title.

I decided to scan and put my list of 100 predictions up here for anyone who might be interested or not.. shut up. Also for historical archiving purposes, as it's always fun to look back and remember the songs that were popular from a past year.

The idea is to choose 100 songs out of a list of over 900 songs, the 100 that you think will make it in.
You get 1 point for every song you guess correctly from place 100 - 90, 2 points for any song in your top 10 and 5 points for guessing the #1 song of the year.
~~This year I came in fourth place getting 60 points.~~ This year I came in third place getting 63 points and guessing the #1 song (a predictable 'Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire').

The Final scores were:

Jut - 66 (WINNER fourth straight year? - much to Mel's annoyance ;))

Mel - 65

Steve/Me - 63 - Steve did his list the night before

Karl - ? (Karl add a comment so I can pop your score in)

Courtney - 57

Sara - 54

Tash & Lily - 50

I usually do a lot worse. In the past I have chosen songs which I like instead of choosing the boring shit I think the general public will vote for.
I researched my list a lot more this year however the fatal flaw in my method was to rely too heavily upon sports betting sites, never again I tell you. I chose shitty songs for the sole reason of their odds being good and disregarded some great personal favourites that - had I thought about it a bit more - I should have known would be in there. Songs like 'Dizzee Rascal - Flex', 'Pendulum - Propane Nightmares' and 'Does it Offend You, Yeah? - Dawn of the Dead'.
I think sports betting sites are helpful for guessing the top 10 songs and well possibly the top 30-40 songs. Otherwise it's best to go with forum posts, last.fm charts and Sara's method of imagining whether a song sounds like it would be in a H100. I have learnt my lesson.

The party, hosted by Jut and Melissa was loads of fun. Thanks guys! Jut's hamburgers did not disappoint. By the end of the day I was tired and had underarm sweat patches that if squeezed could have produced enough water to sustain a mid-sized family garden for a year.
I would have added photos to this post however I forgot my digital camera.

Here's my list for 2008

Updated image with correct points score
P.S. - Sara's comments are in black ink.

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They are basically bald at the moment

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:07:00 +0000

I can't sleep because it is too damn hot and I can't stop thinking.

I am really excited to be getting new tyres put on to my car this Saturday. I am more excited about this than I have been about something for a long time. Generally, I don't get excited about much. Whenever I happen to think about it, it makes me happy. I have been meaning to get new tyres put on my car for a long time. They are basically bald at the moment.

I love getting things out of the way. I find I am really affected by having a list of things that I need to do always in the back of my head, I feel like it takes up processing power or something. Whenever an item is crossed off my list or some action is taken to complete a nagging task it always makes me feel better, lighter, like I have more room to process things. Even desk clutter and messiness make me uncomfortable.

I have been eating lots of nice - but fatty - foods lately and not exercising. Tonight I had Fettuccine Amatraciana and Pizza Herb Bread from Hyde Park Pizza. It was so nice although I prefer the Amatraciana with Spaghetti noodles. I finished it up with an almond magnum. I can feel my stomach protruding from under my tshirt, not a good feeling. I wish my exercise came as a by-product of an enjoyed activity like it did when I was younger, basketball, skateboarding, soccer, tennis.. no need to monitor diet, just have fun. Now I have to run to minimise weight-gain. I find running works best for me, that and not eating.

Here is a photo of me when I was about 16, skinny runt!

Drinking cola from the servo after a shift at Coles

I remember my brother Luke calling me fat boy one day - one of those opposite jokes because I was skinny. I love the opposite comedy rule. Simpsons use this a lot: Krusty the depressed clown, Homer in charge of nuclear waste, Chief Wiggum the dumb police chief, Dr. Nick Riviera the clumsy physician etc.

Compare that with a photo of me near to my heaviest.

Wearing my gut as a badge of pride

See also this photo.

Here are some more photos from other stages of my life:

My first day of school - loving it.

My obsessive Basketball days, bike shorts under bball shorts were a must!

Okay that's enough of that.

I was watching an acquired SBS program tonight: Insight - The End of Marriage, an audienced discussion (forum?) on the decline of marriage and there was this lawyer, he was such an interesting character. He talked with an English accent and stammered, paused and mumbled his words out. What he said was for the most part logical and reasoned. What struck me though was how even with his stammering speech I regarded him with total seriousness. I think this is because, even with the stammering he was totally serious. He did not apologise via facial expressions for his stammering speech. It made me want to create a comic or movie with a character who uses seriousness and has an obvious handicap or something... like go over the top to show how if you just act seriously, people will take you seriously.
I used to use 'seriousness' a lot more when I was younger. I found that when I needed to do something, or be taken seriously that if I furrowed my brow (activated seriousness) and focused hard then this would make lots of things easier for me, I could activate that flow state people talk about. I think I only do this every so often now.

Oh good, this exercise has made me sleepy... time for bed, goodnight.

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The Greatest Blog Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:24:00 +0000

I came across this blog, "Everything is Terrible" via Buzzfeed today, every video posted on here has me in hysterics :)

Everything is Terrible

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I Started a Tumblelog

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:22:00 +0000

http://n8kowald.tumblr.com/ (rss)

I read Graham Linehan's blog today and noticed a link to his tumblelog. I checked it out and loved it!

What is a tumblelog?
A tumblelog (also known as a tlog or tumblog) is a variation of a blog that favours short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging. Common post formats found on tumblelogs include links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video.- (via Wikipedia)

I was unsure about starting one as it would mean yet another web service to maintain but decided I would as it seems like a great way to share small bits of information. Funny pics, a good news article, a great quote, done!

I will use my tumblelog to share items that are not necessarily worthy of an entire blog post but are still good and worth sharing.
I already have a shared tag in delicious that I use to generates links on my homepage for "Recently Loved Web Articles" however these are only text links and so not as attractive as a page that displays these things upfront.

The title of my tumblelog is currently "yes/no" because well, I suck at choosing names for these things. I added five items to my tumblelog tonight.

Check it out and subscribe via rss to get updates.

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Messy Child

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:20:00 +0000

I am more than a little bit addicted to flickr's most recent photos page (thanks Dan!): http://www.flickr.com/photos

The other day I was browsing flickr's latest uploads and noticed a picture of a messy child. I clicked the pic, browsed the user's photostream (DJ&FAM) and found that this kid has an exceptional talent for messiness!
DJ&FAM's photosteam is a veritable cornucopia of "messy child" pictures.

Click these links to see Messy Child's messy exploits from a baby to today:

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Why Is Your Stomach Fat?

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:41:00 +0000

I don't know whether it is the type of sites that I visit (sci-fi/geek/tech) but I have been seeing a lot of Google ads like these lately. They make me feel awesome about myself.

And then I come across ones like this - as if Google ads have not made me feel like a big enough loser already.

Google should start a new scheme with mothers of children who are on the internet a lot where mothers can sign up and get paid for entering in all the insecurities of their sons/daughters. This would provide mothers with a way to finally get their naggings heard. Google then serves ads based on these insecurities to the sons/daughters of these mums, making Google serious bank.

Here are some ads that I would probably get if my mum signed up for this:

- Why is your stomach fat?
- You have too many shoes
- You need to start saving for a house
- Shoe addiction is a female trait
- When are you getting married?
- Your long hair makes you look childish
- Stop spending all your money on shoes
- You need to eat dinner together at a dinner table
- When are you going to cut your fringe?
- You don't eat good food

This Photo Disturbs Me

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:12:00 +0000

This photo, scanned from Scientific American Mind (October/November 2008) magazine disturbs me. I can't stop looking at it.

I enjoy photos and images which evoke strong feelings when looked at.
When I come across an image that affects me I save it. I have a great collection of these type of photos on my work computer that I have been meaning to post. Here are a few from my home computer that I have saved recently.

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Pick, Lick, Roll, Flick

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Today I was chatting with a friend via IM when he came out with this. I had to post it here :)

Me: pick, lick, roll, flick: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amsk/2962904049/
Friend: hehehehhe
Friend: I find rolling works better pre-licking
Friend: pick, roll, lick, flick
Me: hahaaha you're doing it wrong
Me: you're spitting in the face of centuries of tradition
Friend: hehehe
Friend: :D
Friend: my method is based on years of research
Friend: licking adds moisture to an usually already moist substance. this decreases pliability and makes it more difficult to form good, solid little balls. rolling before licking uses the additional friction on your fingers at the time to better form the ball. then, licking adds moisture to fill the gaps and add weight to the ball. it also increases chance of easy departure from the skin, resulting in a more accurate flick, often with further distance
Me: ahahahahahahaha
Me: it makes sense
Friend: hehehe, personal experience ;)
Me: i wanna blog this convo
Friend: ahahahahhahahahahahah
Me: this brilliant insight rather

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Overindulging

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:15:00 +0000

Sometimes I overindulge in food

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UFO! - Forbidden Love (VIDEO)

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:46:00 +0000

Wow! I just came across this artist/video via BigStereo and am loving it!

It starts slow but when it drops (is that the right word?) it is the best! :)

Another song I have been loving lately is this: Of Montreal - A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger - Megaupload

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Corn Cat

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:32:00 +0000

A friend of mine put the URL of this video in his latest Facebook status.
I love this so much :)

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Watching Television: Things That Annoy Me As I Watch

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:35:00 +0000

Started 7:06PM - Friends / TEN

7:08 - Wizard Home Loans Ad: Guy pronounced "because" as "becores".
7:18 - Australian Idol Promo Ad: Annoying "Can you feel it?" song sung by annoying people, one contestant does that head side-to-side diva move.
7:28 - Tony Fergusson Ad: Girl lying on the couch raises her eyebrows way too much.
7:29 - Star Wars Phantom Menace Promo Ad: Guy narrating the ad sounds like a violent psychopath. Deep voice, weird inflections.
7:37 - So You Think You Can Dance: One of the dancers is named Thayne.
7:48 - Rush Promo Ad: Looks like a really shit Australian cop show. No surprises there.
8:24 - Mamma Mia! The Movie - They refer to it as an unmissable movie experience. The movie looks terrible.
8:28 - So You Think You Can Dance - Getting real antsy. Wanting to do something productive instead of watch tv.
8:37 - Origin Energy - Heart-warming acoustic song gettng on my nerves.
8:49 - So You Think You Can Dance - Celine Dion's voice in a song.. ughhhh. Her accent comes through pretty thick and it is annoying.
9:16 - Libra Tampons Ad - The girl does her best "rock chick" impression as she poses up a storm. The distortion in the guitar riff sounds like something that would come out of a cheap amplifier. Shapes fly in the background. why? Annoying rock chick does not = strong, independent woman.
9:23 - Cheerios Advert - Lies, Lies from tiny eyes. Over the top.
9:25 - Island Doors Advert - They Use a lense flare at the end of the ad/
9:40 - Toilet Break - Browsed Digg articles on laptop.
9:51 - So You Think You Can Dance - Flowrider's shoes are ridiculous - the tongues are huge and go up to his knees (exaggeration).
9:54 - Cash Converters Ad - The girls voice is so annoying, you would never hear someone talking this way in real life.
9:56 - Cunningham Warehouse Ad - The "Cunno's" bit at the end really unsettles me.
10:08 - Still in work clothes, feeling uncomfortable. Got changed and charged laptop.

Finished 10:27PM - Watching the Olympic Ceremony

Sometimes a Facebook status message just isn't enough

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:46:00 +0000

So I finally found my missing Nike sock, it was wrapped up in a sock ball with another non-matching Nike sock.
I was excited to find it and then put it on and remembered that they are slightly too small for my feet and angle down at the back.

Apricot Delight is such a great name for the delicious treat. I experience delight every time I eat one of those heaven-sent rectangles of pure bliss.

I hate Nando's. Last night I paid $15 for a crappy burger, fries and bottle of water.
The burger was shit, the stupid peri-peri gimmicky sauce dripped all over my hands, the gourmet lettuce stuck way out of the burger, the bun was hard as tits, the hot sauce was ugghh. Never again. I hate getting burned but when it happens I always hear my Dad saying to me, "Well, as long as you learn something from this, that is the main thing". I have learned to never ever set foot in a Nando's again.

Different Moods and the effect they have on things

Shopping

Mood: Hungry
- Will buy way more then I need, will buy all the delicious snacks I see. Impulsive.

Mood: Normal
- Will only buy what I need. Buy items on special. Good impulse control.

Mood: Tired/Cranky
- Will annoy Sara. Will buy slightly more food than normal. Will buy a V energy drink.

I had lots of dreams last night. Dreams have to be one of the most boring things to listen to. I wish that I had the same dream on a certain day every year. That would be cool.

Right now I am looking around the room and here are things that are in my line of sight.

- Pen or Pin?
- Your bill has been delayed
- InkSaver 2.0
- Work out what folders on my PC need to be backed up
- Giving a yr 7 a wedgie! + being late for class on Friday lunch (a detention I got in yr 8)
- Family Medical Practitioner

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A Drawing a Day - Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Jock Birdman - 15/7/08

He's a bird, he's a man, he's a fashion-jock.

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A Drawing a Day - Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:03:00 +0000

Psst - 14/7/08

Edited with Photoshop - Original

A Drawing a Day - Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Nathan Kowald) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:17:00 +0000

FAIL Guy - 13/7/08

Original Image