Apologies

For all of my loyal readers who missed my quirky, random posts last week, you have my complete and sincere apology. As I should probably have mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I was on a holiday to Sydney with my best friend Georgia and was unable to post any blogs due a lack of internet access.

Needless to say, I already have my first blog post for you on my way home which yet again, is linked to one of Australia's front page news. Even more exciting, I actually experienced it. If you have no idea what I could be talking about yet, here's a clue.

Yes, I officially survived a natural disaster/event and it definitely was not as bad as everyone was making it out to be. Apart from the visual impairment factor, all it really was was just a lot of dust! And for all you asthma sufferers out there, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

Anyway, in relation to the article, I was astounded to read that morning just how severe the Bureau of Meteorology was making the whole thing out to be. "There will be damage to property, power lines down and potentially problems on roads with regard to debris or fallen trees" quoted by Chris Webb. TOTAL OVERSTATEMENT!!!! Seriously, it really wasn't that bad. There was no wind, there were no trees falling down and there certainly were no potential problems for the roads. In fact, by mid-afternoon that very day, the whole thing had pretty much cleaned itself up anyway and according to the weather segment on the news that night, was on its way to New Zealand.

This folks is exactly why I write this blog. To point out to you the ridiculous nature of newspapers and the media to overexaggerate EVERYTHING purely for dramatic effect. And that's literally all the reason for it. If we lived in a perfect world, newspapers would print the fact and that would be all. There would be no opinions given by "professional meteorologists" or written statements by victims to make us emotionally attached, there would just be the pure and simple truth.

Having said that, I've basically contradicted myself because my entire blog is FILLED to the brim with opinions and written statements. I think to survive in this world we all just need to take a step back every now and again and access just how reliable our information is. Can we really believe Old Betty Crockett from 32 James St where apparently a mass murder happened and it was "terrible, absolutely terrible"? I don't think so. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but frankly, I also think they are entitled to keep to themselves too.

So don't be freaked out by the next "major disaster" heading your way folks. It's probably only a minor wind that blowing up the noses of our bored journalists hanging around the water cooler at the Herald Sun. Unless of course its a tsunami in which case I suggest you RUN!!!!

Either way folks, don't worry. Be Happy!

Is Facebook the way of the future??

In today's lecture, I stumbled upon what you may call a mini-epithany. Ok, maybe the idea wasn't that grandiose but it wasn't something I had thought of before so to me, that was quite stupendous.

What I'm blathering about by the way is the astonishing link (pardon the pun) between Tim Berners-Lee's intention of the internet to be an environment where all information provided has a connection to other information, and Facebook's photo tagging system. This process of linking, devised by Berners-Lee, is what he calls "Linked Data". A pretty simple concept really which basically means that any one piece of information is linked to another, much in the same way Wikipedia works.

In his TED presentation, Berners-Lee described his anguish at the number of agencies which did not allow such a system to be applied to their information, such as NASA and the US Government. He said that "The really important thing about data is that the more things you have to connect together, the more powerful it is". He urged large agencies and companies to utilise this system of linked data so that mere folk like us could become more exposed to ALL the information that is available for one topic, rather than just a single document.

So how does this work in with Facebook? How can us uploading our party pics from last Saturday night and tagging every single person help this system of linked data develop?

The answer is really quite simple - it makes us practice. Practice what, you might say? Voyeurism? Stalking? All of these are true in a way but also at the same time, that is in a sense what linked data is about. In the TED presentation again, Tim Berners-Lee's mentioned the ability of linked data to allow us to "browse" certain articles that were connected to the information we had originally come across. Browsing in a sense is really just a watered-down version of stalking if you look at the two definitions side by side:

Browse: to examine casually; skim
Stalk: To pursue by tracking stealthily.

Tagging our friends in photos allows one person to hop from one link to another starting with the image, then looking at who is in the photo and then clicking on the link in that photo which will take them to that person's profile. This is actually a very complicated use of HTML image hyperlinking but what is so fascinating is that Facebook users who are not enrolled in a networked media course, have no idea that they are already employing the basic strategies involved with linked data. This fabulous revelation means that Tim Berners-Lee's may not be as far off from encouraging the world to create linked data as he thinks.

In fact, I'm pretty sure if Tim set up his own Facebook page, he'd have all the linked data he'd ever need.

Mindblank...filled.

Hey everyone

As you know, a couple of weeks ago I had a major freakout because I could not for the life of me remember how the hell you upload an image to a webserver. From looking at my posts, you've probably realised I worked it out ages ago, which I did but this is the first time I've remembered AND had the time to write up what happened after I had found out how to do it. To help you all out in the future, here is how you do it:

First off, you need an image. Preferably one that is not too big in size (about 100-500kb). From there, you open it in photoshop and choose the "save for web devices" option from the file menu.
In the menu that pops up next, you need to select the option that results in the file being saved in a small a form as possible i.e in a 65kb form. Also, you need to make the image a GIF not JPEG. I made that mistake the first time and got totally confused.

Next, you save the image into a folder that is accessable by your web server application like Cyberduck. You then drag the image from that file into a folder called "images" in Cyberduck. This uploads the image to the internet technically converting it from an image that only you can see to something that anyone can access on the web.

From there, all you have to do is drag the image from your desktop file into an empty browser window. This creates a "private" URL which you will notice details the file trail you would take in order to find the image in your folders. To change it from "private" to "public", you need to change the first section of the URL to combine your public URL address with the URL of the Cyberduck folder that contains the image.

And voilá! There is your image on the internet. After that, to get it onto your website, all you need to do is use the image HTML tag which looks like this . The alt= space is the title of your image and the img src= is the URL that tells your blog/website where it can find the image.

So there you have it folks. It took me a while but I finally got it out there. Hopefully I'll be able to help another hopeless wannabe like me with their website. Till then, don't worry. Be happy!

Neighbours finally gets networked

The recent article contained within the Media section of The Age last Monday couldn't help but make me laugh with the title "Neighbours takes roles to Twitter". The brief reflection on Fremantle Media's latest attempt to entice Gen-Y into their program is apparently being claimed as "the first in the world" "to establish Twitter accounts for its fictional characters".

According to The Age, the Twitter accounts were created to "bring the characters off screen and allow the audience to interact with them". Basically, the character's onscreen narratives are detailed in 140 word blog posts just like the 7,038,000 users who log on each day to talk about what they had for breakfast.

Now personally, I have never been able to understand the point of Twitter. In 140 words, you are supposed to be able to detail any emotions, thoughts and ideas you have had recently. I don't know about you but if I attempted to write down all of my emotions, thoughts and ideas, it would take up a lot more than 140 words. As a result, I have never been much intersted in the sight and only set up an account to check out what Lily Allen was up to lately.

This is why I can not see this scheme by FM working out at all. What seems like a good idea to some seems to me like a whole load of work which probably isn't going to pay off. For a start, you have to think about every single thing that is happening in the lives of the Neighbours characters rather than just what's happening on screen. This means employing a whole team of writers just to write our 140 words detailing what Zeke does in the bathroom or what poem Ringo's just created for Donna, something I wouldn't be entirely interested to watch on screen and would be less interested to read on the web.

And I think I speak for the rest of my generation when I say this. Rarely do we give up the precious minutes of our self-indulgent lives to waste our short-attention span on Neighbours at 6 o'clock each day which is why I can't see when we would find the time to log onto Twitter to read up on what our characters are doing outside of their usual timeslot.

Frankly, I think Neighbours should stick to one medium and one medium only and perhaps when it has been able to conquer that, then it can think about moving on to bigger and better things.

It's about time...

Today I believe is the first time in about a month where I have actually looked forward to pointing out the positive aspects of one of today's top stories. For those of you who picked up The Age this morning, you all would have seen the MASSIVE photo of a jockey going hell-for-leather at a horse's neck at what we can assume is the last leg of a race. The reason for the photo's prominence was to emphasise the "disruption" caused by the current Australian Jockey Association strike, an inconvenience that apparently is putting the upcoming Spring Carnival in jeapordy.

Oh BOO HOO! Seriously! So what?! So a whole load of swanky V.I.P's can't show off their latest distateful buys from some crappy designer? So the country's most "successful" (code for evil) racing horse owners can't beat up another horse for the next 2 months coz there's no longer a race for it to run? So the state loses a shitload of money which we Melbournians would be better off putting towards our mortgage/car/kids education? Big Deal!

Frankly, I think the latest decision by the Australian Racing Board is the best thing that has ever happened to the industry. For too long, horses have had to suffer intolerably cruelty at the hands of their trainers, owners and riders and not once ever given the proper respect that they deserve.

The new rule in question was introduced on August 1st by the ARB. For those of you who are unaware of its significance on the racing industry, here are the main points:

• In the last 200 metres, the whip can be used only three times, and this must be in consecutive strides. The whip must not be raised above the shoulder.


• Before the 200 metre mark, a full whipping motion can be used no more than five times.


• Whips must be padded.


• Previously there was no restriction on the number of times a horse could be whipped.

Jockeys claim that the introduction of these new rules "threaten their safety". According to Australian Jockey Association chief executive Paul Innes, apparently all the jockeys were after was "a bit of common sense". Common sense? Common sense?! What amount of logic is involved in believing that a horse would want to become involved in something that results in them being left in a stall, brusied, beaten and broken from running all day around a frickin' race track? None. Absolutely none. The jockeys who honestly believe that this sort of attitude is ok obviously don't care about the horses they ride otherwise they wouldn't do it.

Frankly, with an industry that is overrun with hideous stories about druggings, horrible surgical procedures and corruption, its a breath of fresh air to finally hear that the industry may have some moral fibre. The horses are no longer suffering more than necessary AND the jockeys finally have to use their BRAINS (yes i know they're small but they are there) instead of their braun to get the horse over the finishing line first.

I don't know about you lot but if you're as passionate about animals as I am and if the strike does prove to reverse the introduction of these rules than I hope you will all send personal letters to the chairman of the ARB, Bob Bentley, complaining about how daft this act would be.
Anyway, let's just pray and hope this never comes to light. Until then, don't worry! Be happy!

One Hundred and One Weird-Ass Words

Throughout the duration of this course, there have been a number of words which I have titled "weird-ass" because you look at them from front to back and still think they're weird. These W.A.Ws as they shall be abbreviated include TCP/IP, HTML, and CSS. As you can see, these are all acronymn's for much larger words but even when these tiny abbreviations are extended, I still have no idea what they are on about. SO! I decided to put my fingers to the keyboard and research just exactly what these W.A.W's are on about.

W.A.W: TCP/IP
Stands for: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol aka. The Internet Protocol Suite
Meaning: Ok, so this is a toughy. According to my trusty guide from the TCP/IP for Dummies book, TCP/IP is "the glue that holds the internet together". Basically this means that computer-to-computer communications can be made securely and easily. The internet protocol suite is made up of a series of layers including the Link Layer, the Internet Layer, the Transport Layer, and the Application Layer. These layers ensure problems involving the transmission of data are solved easily, each lower layer protocol provides a well-defined service to the upper layer protocols based on using their services alone. The TCP/IP suite was set up in the summer of 1973 by Robert E. Kahn and Vinton Cerf to connect satellite packet networks with ground-based radio packet networks. Before this, information transmission was limited to radio-radio networks or satellite -satellite networks. Nowadays, numerous connections can be made between various types of networks no matter what their characteristics. This is all linked to a greater ability to access information around the world and send information to someone no matter where they are. I have to express my sincere and utter gratitude to Kahn and Cerf. Without them, there is no way I would be able to check my Facebook, send emails to my boss or Skype with my parents. This would have been a major drawback on my social life as sad as that is to admit but either way, I am utterly endebted to these two men for life.

W.A.W: HTML
Stands For: Hypertext Markup Language
Meaning: HTML is basically the language of computers. Just like France has French, Germany has German and Australia has... whatever we have, computers too need a language in order to communicate with us mere humans. It's a way of describing how a set of text and images should be displayed to the viewer, similar in concept to a newspaper editor's markup symbols. The actual language of HTML is made up of elements which are further made up of attributes and content. Attributes detail what is to happen with the content which is contained within the single or double quotes. HTML was created in the late 1980s as a revision of the CERN system of information transmission called ENQUIRE which was designed to assist CERN scientists in transferring data between eachother. This system was expanded upon by Tim Berners-Lee and is now used as the primary language amongst computer systems across the globe. I definitely would not have been able to complete this assignment without knowing about this HTML. It's definitely not something you can just fob your way around. HTML is a complicated and tricky language just like French (which by the way, took me 5 years to learn and I'm not even fluent at it) but with practice, I was able to acquire basic skills and practices that are involved with translating normal text to HTML. I'm actually quite excited about the prospects of where this can take me and I look forward to doing more HTML exercises later in the future.

W.A.W: CSS
Stands for: Cascading Style Sheet
Meaning: CSS is another way HTML language can be presented to the human eye. Whilst its all well and good to have a website which presents your content neatly, at the end of the day, people will get bored of reading page after page of boring black text on a white background. CSS is designed primarily to enable the separation of document content (written in HTML or a similar markup language) from document presentation, including elements such as the colors, fonts, and layout. This is possibly the most exciting W.A.W that I have come across during my studies as CSS represented to me the gateway between me just doing this whole website making assignment begrudingly to actually enjoying the control I had over the way my website looked. And it looked cool! Instead of a boring white background and black Times New Roman, I finally got an awesome, professional looking site all in few applications of a simple code.

Whilst these "definitions" may not be as detailed as the ones you would find on Wikipedia , they do all basically detail the fundamental meanings of each of these "weird-ass words" so I hope you will all be able to use them to your own advantage when you too have a WTF moment like I did.

Driven to despair? Or driven to dream?

For those of you who diligently cross yourselves each morning before facing the on-coming rush hour traffic, this morning's Herald Sun front page would most definitely have given you something extra to worry about. I on the other hand was jumping for joy! As you will have already read in my earlier post, Flamin' Firebombs, I am a huge supporter of any initiative that involves the decreased production of CO2 emissions. What on earth does this have to do with today's front page news about Melbourne's most fanatical parking inspectors? Let me explain...

You see, whilst you were all groaning at the sight of numerous statistics and graphs the Sun kindly provided yesterday detailing just how much money the Melbourne City Council is filching off your tardiness, I was smiling warmly in the knowledge that I do not need to worry about parking fines or expired meters or accidently parking my car in a tow-away zone. The reason for this? Because I don't have a car and trust me, it is an absolute blessing.

Now I know you think I'm crazy. Doesn't have a car?! But how on earth does she survive?! Well, funnily enough, ladies and gentleman, humans were born with these silly things called legs which allow us to move about our day without emitting thousands of kilos of carbon dioxide (unless you happened to have tacos for breakfast).

The main point that needs to be emphasised from this morning's article is that to avoid a daily date with Mr "OMG! I only have 5 minutes to top up the meter!", we should look at alternative ways of getting to and from our daily activities. The possibilities are endless. Walk, cycle, tram, train, ferry or rollerblade it into town and not only will you never need to worry about your chariot of fire waiting in Inspector Territory on the street, but you will also be aiding your health and the environment.

The pros always outway the cons when it comes to this blog which is why I can safely say that in reference to the "despairing" data provided by Herald Sun this morning, don't worry. Be Happy!

Michael's Marilyn Moment

Recently, a survey was conducted (by yours truly nonetheless) of the blogs posted here at TOTP and it was concluded that the number of articles featuring newspapers other than the Herald Sun or The Age was ... 0. Therefore, today I decided to change tracks and switch to another newspaper outlet that we are all familiar with but one I would not normally consider as a "depressing" newspaper, this being mX.

mX, for my international readers (if there are any of you out there) is a free, local to Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, newspaper that focuses on providing city commuters with a "daily mix of fun news, sport and entertainment". It is for that reason that I was shocked to find such a devastating abuse of mX's front page article this morning.

Brandished across the front page like a fresh iron brand was the single word "Homicide". Anything the size and shape that this title held on the paper's anterior section is sure to get some attention, and the actual heading itself only proved to entice the reader more. A classic trick of the trade for a newspaper that is supposed to be an alternative to the crap we read every day in the Sun and the Age.

For those of you who missed it, mX's major story for the day was the detailing of recent reports from the L.A Coroner's Court which specifically state the fact that Michael Jackson's death was a result of "death at the hands of another" (i.e homicide). The shocking news has since outraged Michael Jackson fans across the world who want justice to be brought to the horrible offender that incurred such an untimely demise for the King of Pop.

Whilst I myself was (am?) a massive fan of the Man in the Mirror, it is my duty to provide you readers with the optimistic outlook on the article and here it is.

From the way I see it, we can take Michael Jackson's death as one of 2 things - either, he was a crazy, neurotic, kinda/really creepy 50 year old with a penchance for silk pajamas and employing really bad staff, or, he was a a crazy, neurotic, kinda/really creepy 50 year old with a penchance for silk pajamas and employing really bad staff who also happened to murder him. Do you see the difference? Let me use an another reference to prove my point.

Marilyn Monroe, arguably one of the world's most beautiful women, was what one could call a slutty, blond who enjoyed the presence of men maybe a tad too much and liked to "sing" for the President's supper. Funnily enough though, around the time of her death, mass speculation began to arise about the manner in which this event occurred. Whilst murder and suicide were ruled out, they are still regarded in history today as a possible cause of death and personally, I believe that this is the main reason why she is still remembered to this day as "a legend". It wasn't her talent or her face but merely the possibility that she could have died "at the hands of another" and it is this speculation more than anything else that is what has kept her name firmly placed within our social history.

Now, after that rather downward spiralling rant I wish to comfort you by stating that there is a positive side to this rather depressing exploration into Michael Jackson's death and its relation to Marilyn Monroe's similar quietus. You see, both were major stars at the time of their death. This meant that post vete, major hype was created around the reasons for these stars' bizarre fates and as a result, at least in Marilyn's case, their stardom only became more prominent. Also, both stars were rumoured to have been murdered. In Monroe's case, this statement was never confirmed but many believe that this was more to do with lack of adequeate scientific equipment available at the time rather than a lack of evidence. Therefore, many still believe that Monroe was in fact murdered and I am willing to go as far as to say that it is this sole reason that has kept her memory so fresh in our minds.

As a result, I believe that the same result will occur in relation to MJ's farewell. Whilst his death has now been ruled a homicide, the fact that like Monroe, it can now be confirmed that it was no accident and it is this fact that will keep his legendary status alive for many years to come. Had he died as a result of an accidental overdose or even suicide who knows, the same effect may not have been felt. But I feel safe in the claim that because his death includes mystery, suspicion and now a suspect, he will remain a major part of popular culture for many future generations.

Well, there you have it my darling readers. Leave this site in the warm fuzzy knowledge that whilst death "at the hands of another" is a rather horrible way to go, it can in fact be a blessing in disguise for you can all be safe in knowing that in 50 years time, your great-grand kids will still be singing "ABC....It's easy as 1, 2, 3". Adios amigos oh, and don't worry. Be happy!

Nuclear Nuisances

According to today's Age, "Australia and Japan are at loggerheads over the use of nuclear weapons in war, with Japan - the only country to suffer an atomic attack - determined they should remain a broad-based deterrent". Great, but since when have we needed to worry about nuclear warfare? I why is it all of a sudden front page news. Never to dissapoint, I investigated further into the matter for you my trusty readers.

According to various sources (yes I did just look it up in wikipedia but I promise you I read some other stuff too), the NFU or "no first-use" policy refers to the position that countries like India, China and North Korea have adopted in relation to their attitude about nuclear weapons. An NFU is "a pledge or a policy by a list of states with nuclear weapons" to not use nuclear weapons as a mean of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons" This means China, India and North Korea will not use nuclear weapons unless somebody else does it first. The US, England, Israel and Pakistan do not have such a policy as each individual country has specific justifications as to why they would be allowed to call the shots in deciding who gets to fire the first nuclear missile.

So, you're probably thinking right now, what has this got to do with Japan? Well, for those of you who weren't born in the 80s (sorry Calvin), this whole nuclear paranoia crap started in 1945 when a nuclear bomb cutely dubbed "Little Boy" was kindly dropped on the Japanese town of Hiroshima, instantly killing 80,000 people, the largest mass killing by a single military weapon in history. After effects of the attack resulted in nearly 120,000 deaths from the radiation exposure and 69% of the infrastructure of the city was destroyed. According to reports by the Truman government, the bomb was dropped after the Japanese government rejected the Potsdam Ultimatum, the Allies last proposal to Japan to surrender. After the rejection, the American's let "Little Boy" fly on Hiroshima which many believe on August 6th, was the end of the second world war.

Well thats your little history lesson for today folks but I can sense you're all a little bit confused. Mainly, why is Japan refusing to follow Australia's lead in asking Britain, the US and other anti-NFU countries to disarm their nuclear forces so as to reduce the risk of another Hiroshima-type attack. Japan, however, has apparently piped up and said that it does not want this to happen because it would mean the US would lose its powers to employ a first-strike against countries who may or may not have employed nuclear weapons against home territory or an ally.

To make all of this a little bit more logical, this is the way I believe it all works.

The 9 countries involved can be seen like the cliques you get in highschool. America, Britain, Israel and Pakistan are the cools kids who believe they are superior to everyone else just because they have a massive hedgefund. North Korea, Russia and China are those creepy kids who have proved in the past that they can cause some damage but have since been severely ripped by the popular kids and as a result, spend their lunchtimes plotting their revenge. Japan and Australia are the new kids on the block who have never really had an opinion when it comes to "playground politics" but only know they just want to fit in. Together, they vowed to assist the "popular" crew with particular international problems etc and most of the time you'll find Japan and Australia are on America's side. However, because Japan used to fight with the US all the time when they were toddlers (their mums had to separate them from eachother during playgroup), they feel that America will kick their ass again if they make any waves so they basically do whatever America tells them to do. Australia, on the otherhand, is the little Indie kid who likes to believe they are setting the trends. What they don't realise half the time though, is that no one is really listening to them.

Hence we arrive at the predicament we are in now. When originally Japan and Australia arrived on the scene at the same time, Japan has now grown bigger balls and isn't too interested in keeping face with Australia as they've got big old America behind them to back them up. As a result, Australia is the last kid on the bench during sport trials and when it comes to lunchtime, you'll usually find it in the toilet blocks eating a sandwich by itself.

I thought you may have all liked a little variety to spice up your usual optimism but have no fear, as I always do, here's the good stuff:

Basically, we can rest easily in knowing that Australia is not about to just roll over and play dead for America just because it's lost its new best friend Japan. No, its seems our gang leader, K-Rudd, has more pride than that and he doesn't look like he's going to give up that quickly. Also, the possibility of the world being destroyed by another "Little Boy" is quite rare as the world has more pressing matters at hand such as (cue sarcasm) the global financial crisis (Tragedy!), decreasing oil supplies (What horror!), and international trading treaties (Its an outrage!).
So, instead of freaking out about the possibility that America may just decide to end the world with the push of a button overnight, be grateful in knowing that we have a prime minister who is not a pushover and that the possibility of an attack in the near future is quite improbable.

There you go folks, you thought it was all a bit touch and go there for a while but as I always do, I provided you with the goods. So rest easy tonight and remember, don't worry. Be happy!