Luke Himself

Help Close Puppy Factories

August 19th, 2010 | Published under General | 1 Comment

While factories the world over have recently been forced to shut down due to the economic crisis, puppy factories continue to boom.

Mass-producing puppies for profit, their operators are simply business people with little or no concern for the animals they force to breed in appalling facilities. It’s not uncommon for female dogs as young as six months old to churn out litters constantly for their entire lives.

When they’re no longer able to breed, they’re euthanised. But perhaps the most shocking truth about puppy factories is that they’re operating right here, in towns all across Australia.

How can you help to close down puppy factories?

With your signature of support petition.php the RSPCA can approach the Government requesting to have the laws and legislations regulating puppy factories tightened, ultimately closing them down for good.

There are also other ways you can help to put these awful businesses to a stop. Make sure you know how and where to buy a puppy, and if you aware of a puppy factory in operation, make sure you report it.

You can find out more at RSPCA – Help Us Close Puppy Factories.

Advanced Search

August 17th, 2010 | Published under General | No Comments

It’s a search engine, calculator, currency converter and much more. Anyone who uses Google on a day-to-day basis (which is most of us) is quite aware of the extensive features integrated into Google searches. It really is much more than just a search engine. But it’s not all serious business, with these cool and funny tricks hidden inside Google search. Give them a try!

• Try some of the “other” measurements Google accepts, such as the beard-second (5mm), Potrzebie (2.2633mm), ngogn (11.5938151ml), blintz (36.4253863g) and donkeypower (0.3353hp). For example, type “1 donkeypower to hp” in the search box.
• What’s the loneliest number? Let Google calculate it by searching “loneliest number.”
• Find out the real probability of “once in a blue moon” through a Google search.
• Search for “the answer to life, the universe, and everything.” The result is a reference to Douglas Adam’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
• Search for “the number of horns on a unicorn”
• All of the above are stored as actual numbers, so you can add, subtract, multiply, etc, on them. You can even convert them to a currency. For example try “number of horns on a unicorn + 5”.

In early March this year a town called Topeka in Kansas temporarily changed their name to Google. On April Fools’ Day, Google issued a joking statement that they would be changing their name to Topeka in honour of the gesture and changed their logo for the day.

• Google the words “recursion” and “anagram.” Pay attention to the resulting “Did you mean?” suggestions.
• See if you can spot this one: search “ascii art.”
• If one sets the iGoogle theme to the “Beach” option, then at 3:14 AM every morning, the Loch Ness Monster surfaces for 1 minute, then at 3:15 dives back under. The reason for the timing of 3:14 is rumoured to be a tribute to the number pi. Additional 3:14 eggs include the “Seasonal Scape” showing off the Northern Lights, the “City Scape” with UFOs, the “Spring Scape” with a monster, the “Sweet Dreams” with the stars aligning to the shape of the symbol pi, and the “Tea House” that has spirits in the mist.
• Use Google Translate to translate “James Bond” from English to Chinese.
• Press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A in Google Reader to release some Ninja action.
• Google offers multiple languages not common in other applications, such as Google in Pirate and Pig Latin.

And that’s just a few! In addition to these tricks, Google are also famous for their various hoaxes over the years. You can see the full list at Wikipedia.

Nice to see one company not taking things too seriously!

Gmail

August 15th, 2010 | Published under My Stuff | 1 Comment

It all started back when I was a kid and realised I didn’t have to rely on web-based email interfaces. Nor did I need to use the Outlook client that was loaded on the sole family computer we owned back in the day. You see, I discovered a program called “Incredimail” which, along with being able to add all kinds of effects that are cool at age 10, was a client hosted on my computer without having to open a web link.

And so it went on until I learnt more about computers and Incredimail started to become a bit too gimmicky. I needed something serious. Through the use of Mozilla Firefox, I discovered the email client Mozilla Thunderbird, and I was set for years. Old habits die hard and, despite a push from friends and colleagues to start using Gmail as my email client, I stuck with my old Thunderbird.

Until a few nights ago… the drama of trying to be able to receive the same emails on both my computers was too much! Not only that, but configuring IMAP settings were a headache in itself. And so I finally thought I’d trail Gmail…. and what did I think?

It is great. It really is. I was so sceptical, and like so many of the sceptics in the reviews I read before making the leap. Now I’ve also been converted. Not only can I access all my email accounts (Thunderbird couldn’t configure one of them whatsoever, I had to use email forwarding) but I can access it from any computer, anywhere, at any time. And thanks to the selectable Themes, it looks the goods too. (Where are my Calendar themes, Google?)

Although I’m only a few days into officially converting, I’ve already gone far enough as uninstalling Mozilla Thunderbird altogether. And thanks to Google’s other great invention, Google Chrome, I’ve conveniently replaced my Thunderbird “pin” (Windows 7 speak for Quick Launch) with an application shortcut to Gmail.

What else is cool about it? So far I like the absolute ease of adding email accounts, integration with chat, and my Calendar link up the top from the usual Google application links. And of course the search functions. And thanks to “reply-to” addresses and offline access, it pretty much has all the same functionality of a local email client.

Google, you’ve done it again.

Why not try out Gmail for yourself?

Flying Rage

August 13th, 2010 | Published under In The News | 3 Comments

Raging flight attendant makes his own emergency exit

A flight attendant, furious with passengers who refused to follow his instructions, told them off over the loudspeaker before pulling the chute to make his own dramatic personal emergency exit, US police said.

The attendant, identified in the US media as Steven Slater, 39, was working on a JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh to New York that had just landed, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.

Mr Slater told passengers to remain seated upon landing. But when a passenger started collecting his belongings from the overhead bin, disregarding the instructions, Mr Slater tried to stop him but was hit in the head by the baggage and became irate.

When Mr Slater “asked for an apology”, the passenger “instead cursed at him”, The New York Times reported.

Mr Slater “got on the plane’s public address system and cursed out all aboard. Then he activated the inflatable evacuation slide at service exit R1, launched himself off the plane, an Embraer 190, ran to the employee parking lot and left the airport in a car he had parked there”.

The attendant snatched a beer from the galley before jumping on the slide, ABC News in the US reported.

His silver-screen worthy escape was short-lived.

Police arrested Mr Slater shortly after at his home nearby in Queens.

“There were no injuries and all customers deplaned the aircraft safely through the jetway,” the airline said in a statement.

“At this time, we are working with the FAA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to investigate the incident. At no time was the security or safety of our customers or crew members at risk.”

ABC said Mr Slater was charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

A Facebook fan page says an appeal fund will be set up to help pay for his court costs.

Many users have logged on to the page expressing their support for Mr Slater.

“I love your level of customer service! So refreshing! Sometimes a-holes need to be called a-holes,” one wrote.

From The Age.

Years For Sale

August 9th, 2010 | Published under My Stuff | No Comments

I like making complicated questions to ask people. Like the ethical versions – Is torturing one person justified if it means the possibility of saving hundreds of others? And I like the plain difficult ones – Would you rather love or be loved? (Check out Ethical Dilemmas)

And so I came up with the question of purchasing extra years on your life. It goes like this: How much would you pay for an extra year of life if it was possible to purchase extra years? Would you pay $20,000 to live an extra year than what you would have? $50,000? $100,000? Would you decide now or later?

I think most people would easily put up $10,000 for an extra year. Probably even $50,000. But it gets to a point where you have to start looking wondering if the costs outweigh the benefits. Is half a million dollars too much? It depends if you think life is more about living long, or just having fun for the years that you do have. Maybe you were going to live long enough anyway, or maybe the complete opposite. You never know.

And then you have to consider the cost of living. You’ve purchased another year of your life but you still have to consider that extra cost of living, rent for another year or working for another year. Suddenly the costs are adding up.

I’m not sure if I wrote this blog to actually answer a question, or if it even makes a statement. But I guess it just makes for an interesting topic that sparked in my mind.

So how much would you pay? How many years would you buy at $10k each, $50k each and $100k each if presented with the option today?

Nokia 5800 – The Phone, The Disaster

August 7th, 2010 | Published under My Stuff | No Comments

I’ve been a loyal Nokia customer as long as I can remember. In fact, my purchasing of Nokia mobile phones dates all the way back to the original Nokia 5110, which was my first Nokia phone of many.

I know, Nokia is not the most innovative or featured brand going around. But they supply a suitable phone standard that is always reliable, smooth performing and extremely user-friendly. So when it came time to purchase my first touch screen phone, I ignored all the begging of the Apple fanatics and purchased Nokia’s first touch screen mobile phone, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

And it was great. You keen readers will remember my original reviews when the phone was brand new to me. It was fun, awesome to use and fault free. For a little while.

7:30am one cold morning, the same time my phone’s alarm clock wakes me every other day, I retrieved my phone from its hidden place in my room (this forces me to get out of bed, you see). As much as I would have liked to have proceeded to turn off the alarm, I couldn’t! It was playing the alarm tone and doing its vibrating thing, but there was a blank screen! Let me assure you my phone had not been dropped or rough-handled in anyway. Taking out the battery was my only way to fix the issue, but the screen remained that cold, dark black.

Off to the Nokia warranty centre, conveniently located in two locations for the whole state of Victoria. After waiting in their highly staffed (did I see highly staffed? I meant two people) centre for a good half hour, I explained my issue and submitted my phone for warranty work.

They gave me a loan phone along with the required deposit (refundable with the return of the phone) I was back on the calling and messaging road again. A few days later I received a call that my phone had been fixed and was ready to pick up. So I headed back to the centre, collected my phone and found the issue was a faulty screen, which had been replaced free under warranty. They fixed it, I was happy.

Getting that deposit back despite returning the loan phone (around $100 from what I recall) was another story. For days on end my calls to the Nokia Care Centre simply rang out. I emailed with no response. A second email was finally responded to and they contacted me by phone the next day. By this time I had already paid off my credit card bill, and the refunded deposit didn’t turn up for about another 2 weeks. I wonder if it would ever have been refunded if I didn’t constantly have to chase them.

But the dramas don’t end there. For the point of not making a ridiculously long blog out of this, I’m going to cover off the issues the phone has given me to date:

• Calendar disappeared off the home-screen, needed to restore factory settings to fix.
• The stylus became lose and fell out by itself. Electric tape to thicken the slot fixes this.
• Phone turns itself off because the battery moves away from connections. A piece of paper alongside the battery fixes this (most of the time).
• A few occasions the phone has rang but upon answering you can’t hear anything.
• Phone resets itself randomly on numerous occasions.
• Screen freezes randomly and has to be reset.
• The screen-lock button lags or sometimes wakes the phone up but doesn’t unlock the keys.
• The wireless rarely finds any wireless networks. When it does it disconnects after a few minutes. Restoring to factory settings apparently fixes this, but with the amount of problems this phone has you’d have to restore factory settings every week to have a stable phone.
• Installation files menu wouldn’t open and froze phone. Was a corrupt install file – this may have been a third party issue.
• Sometimes battery charging will keep going even after being plugged in for hours and must be full.
• After a full charge, the phones battery will die and go completely empty – half an hour late to work the other morning because of this – thanks Nokia.
• Touch screen menu items don’t always open properly, they just stay highlighted.

And I’m sure there’s more I have encountered, or will continue to encounter.

Nokia, what a piece of crap you’ve made! Will you fix it? Sure, but you take months and months to issue software updates to fix the issues. And when you do fix them, you create more bugs with the software update.

My loyalty to Nokia has officially ended. It’s a Google Android next for me.

Red Fridays

August 5th, 2010 | Published under General | 6 Comments

If the red shirt thing is new to you, read below how it went for one man…

Last week, while travelling to Brisbane on business, I noticed an army sergeant travelling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together. After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who’d been invited to sit in Business Class (across from me), and inquired if he was heading home.

“No”, he responded.

“Going home”, I asked?

“No. I’m escorting a soldier home.”

“Going to pick him up?”

“No. He is with me right now. He was killed in Afghanistan; I’m taking him home to his family.”

The realisation of what he had been asked to do hit me like a Rock to the head. (I felt sick in the stomach) It was an honour for him. He told me that, although he didn’t know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier’s family and felt as if he knew them after many conversations in so few days.

I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, “Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do.” He took my hand and said “Thank You.”

Upon landing in Brisbane, the pilot stopped short of the gate and made the following announcement over the intercom.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honour of having Sergeant Jamison of the Royal Australian Army join us on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door to allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will then turn off the seat belt sign.”

Without a sound, all went as requested… I noticed the sergeant saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me realise that I am proud to be an Australian.

So here’s a public Thank You to our military Men and Women for what you do so we can live the way we do.

Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday. The reason; Australians who support our troops used to be called the ‘silent majority.’ We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organised, boisterous or overbearing.

Many Australians, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognise that the vast majority of Australians supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that every red-blooded Australian who supports our men and women afar, will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV – let’s make Australia every Friday a sea of red much like an AFL Grand final game in the MCG Stands. If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family, it will not be long before Australia is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once ‘silent’ majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on. Don’t let this be like it was for our poor Vietnam Vets.

The first thing a soldier says when asked “What can we do to make things better for you?” is “We need your support and your prayers.” Let’s get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something red every Friday.

Master Chef

July 23rd, 2010 | Published under My Stuff | 2 Comments

It’s been nearly two weeks since I’ve been cooking for myself and that big hurdle that seemed so hard to achieve has been reached, thrown down and stomped on. Not only have I succeeded to make some pretty decent meals, but I thoroughly enjoy it too! Yep, 23-years-old is about the time you have to make sure you can do your own bed, cook your own dinner and work out which bins go out on which nights.

So yes, you heard right, Luke is cooking! You may remember my Cooking For Dummies blog  published many a month ago, but now cooking is a just another part of life for Luke Himself.

First off, for any of those who were like me and didn’t, couldn’t or wouldn’t cook, it really is easy. All you need is some spare vegetables, some cooking utensils and a bit of imagination. My first creation didn’t even have support from a recipe! I chopped up a variety of any vegetables I could find, made a sauce from mixing other assorted sauces found around the house, heated up a wok and put it all in. So the sauce didn’t work out great, but for a first effort I was quite proud.

And stir fries are definitely an awesome meal for beginners and pros alike. They’re quick, easy and your choice of ingredients is widely varied. Two of my favourite meals so far have been stir fries, and I’d like to share them here for any fellow novices. They both cover the same basic principle, except the first one is a bit of a cheat as you use two packets of flavoured noodles!

Continue reading…

Stranded

July 21st, 2010 | Published under Movies | No Comments

From the many, many documentaries I love and enjoy, Stranded is one of my favourites. The documentary follows the survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, a flight in which 45 rugby team members crashed into the Andes Mountains. Those that survived the impact found themselves in the snow with little food, heat or shelter to keep them alive. The ordeal lasted a staggering 72 days.

Hearing on radio reports that the search for them had been abandoned; the survivors of the plane crash were faced with no choice but to eat their fellow dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow, or otherwise face their own deaths. In a decision that took the world by shock, they took the plunge and begun to consume the corpses of their teammates, friends and family.

It sounds a bit crazy, and definitely sickening, but that’s not all you’ll find in this documentary. With interviews of the survivors, returning to the site of the plane crash for the first time since the accident, the true bravery and emotion of these survivors is revealed. Seeing the location really shows the harsh truth of what 72 days in this climate would mean, and that they survived is a miracle in itself.

To find out exactly what happened straight from the mouth of the survivors, make sure this documentary is the next on your list.

Available at JB H-Fi and other popular DVD stores.

Senator Online

July 20th, 2010 | Published under General | No Comments

Are you still not sure who to vote for this upcoming election?

If you’re like me and realise the enormous opportunities the Internet can bring to people of all walks of life, you should consider voting for Senator Online (SOL). Senator Online does not have any policies; instead they seek to implement a system where a poll will be available online for all registered voters to vote on any bill that passes before the Senate.

SOL states their purpose on their website:
- Senator Online is not-for-profit and Australia’s first (and only) internet-based registered political party.
- Senator Online is dedicated to providing everyday Australians like you a voice direct in parliament.

Here’s how it works:

1. The SOL post-election website will provide you balanced, unbiased information on all the issues, bills, and policies in Parliament;
2. You vote on the SOL website how you want our senators to vote – every bill, every important issue, every time;
3. SOL senators in Parliament then vote exactly how the majority directs.

Where a 70% majority vote exists, senators will be required to vote in accordance with the clear majority. This gives you a direct voice into what is passed or rejected in the Senate, and means everyone can have their own say from the comfort of their own homes.

Find out more at Senator Online and show your support at the polls on the 21st of August!