Pausing for thought

Reading my messages

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:28:46 GMT

Thanks for all the messages, at this moment in time I haven't had a chance to read them all but I will eventually. Just for the record MonkeyMagic698 does not publish his photograph because he just doesn't. sorry.

Anyway I hope all my fans are doing well, even if you are not a fan I understand.

MonkeyMagic698.

Predictions past and present

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:35:03 GMT

There's only 3 hours and 30 minutes of 2007 left, whatever happened in that year stays in that year. The new year promises a fresh start to one and all, except for maybe the Chinese who will have to until February 18th 2008.

It's a good time to make predictions for 2008 but here are the predictions I made from December 2006 first.

some people will be watching TV on their mobile phone.
Microsoft will release another Windows operating system called Windows Vista.
There will be at least another 2 versions of the iPod released with more memory and better support for recording.
Internet speeds will get faster as providers promote >2 MB - 24MB
Mobile phone 3G service becomes more common place.
RFID is added to at least another 5 new mobile phone models from Nokia.
Gizmo replaces Skype as the new buzz word for Voip.
Consumers desire for gadgets becomes insatiable.
The new 500GB hard disk hits the high street.
Electronic data theft becomes a growing popular
Wireless hacking becomes increasingly popular
Mobile phones with biometric readers appear in the high-end range.
Video piracy over the Internet grows, much to the horror of Hollywood.
more computers clone the Mac Mini.
Linux is pre-installed on an increasing no of computers on the high street.
The average phone user will own 2 mobile phones.
Several new household robot toys will make their appearance.
Any part of the human body can be grown organically, or synthetically, but there are fearce debates about whether or not human brains should be grown inside other animals.
Voice recognition appears late July on the top range mobiles.
Video blogging enters the arena with some notable bloggers.
Some companies replace their existing smart cards for employee identification and tracking with the mobile phone supported by RFID.

OK I was a bit a head of my time really considering over 50% of these things really hit the headlines in 2007.

I'm not making any predictions for this year as things are not going to be rosy for some people, they just don't realise it yet. I'm talking about the financial market, it will also be a tough year for many 1st time buyers as the housing shortage will not improve any time soon.

Hold onto your hats folks because it's going to be a rollercoaster of a year.

Best wishes for the New Year,

MonkeyMagic698

Happy Holidays from MonkeyMagic698

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:30:47 GMT

Well there's been a lot happening since last blog entry, lots of great things, love, laughter, despair, hurt, and insanity.

Right now I'm in my pyjamas since I've been to lazt to get dressed, it's the holidays after all I can do that if I like. I want to keep this one short since I don't want to write something I later regret, and then forget to delete it. Then at a later date someone googles for the same keywords I used and then gets offended by what I wrote.

That's all for now, this is MonkeyMagic698 wishing you Happy Holidays

The Gutsy Gibbon is coming soon

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:54:15 GMT

Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu

The new release will be out on the 17th October 2007. I haven't really looked at the new features but I'm confident someone has thought about this.

The question is ... is Ubuntu over-rated? I blogged a while ago writing that Michael Dell would be crazy not provide Ubuntu on the laptop, and now they do. Does it live up to the expectation? Has it changed my life? Am I more attractive to the opposite sex? The answer is yes! and it's all thanks to Ubuntu.

I'm using Ubuntu right now to right this, I also use it for manipulating images, editing sound files, programming, Office software, chatting through IRC, scanning documents, talking with my friend on Skype, and more. If you want to try out Ubuntu sell your existing computer, and buy a Dell pre-installed with Ubuntu. Otherwise download the Gparted .ISO and create a live CD, pop it in your machine, reboot, and partition your hard disk with a linux partition (EXT3). Then download and burn the Ubuntu Live CD, reboot your machine and install Ubuntu.

Good times! Linux will take over the world some time around July 2010.

Best of luck with your own exploration into Ubuntu.

MonkeyMagic698

Feeling blue

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 23:59:50 GMT

Earlier today I was going to write something in this blog, but then I stopped myself, and I thought who would want to read what I have to say. At that point I pressed the cancel button for the blog and instead I listened to a podcast on IT Conversations followed by reading th latest from nfh.org.uk.

My mother contacted the place that fitted my bathroom today, complaining that not all the tiles matched. There are about 5 tiles which are blue and should be white, according to the shop this is normal it's just shading. My mum put them right about that one. It's like the dead parrot sketch from Monty Python ... and on that note I give you the ...

Dead Parrot Sketch

The cast:

     MR. PRALINE
          John Cleese
     SHOP OWNER
          Michael Palin

The sketch:

A customer enters a pet shop.

Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint.

(The owner does not respond.)

Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss?

Owner: What do you mean "miss"?

Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

Owner: We're closin' for lunch.

Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.

Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

Owner: No, no, 'e's uh,...he's resting.

Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

Owner: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!

Mr. Praline: The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead.

Owner: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!

Mr. Praline: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cage) 'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you
show...

(owner hits the cage)

Owner: There, he moved!

Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!

Owner: I never!!

Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!

Owner: I never, never did anything...

Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!

(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)

Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.

Owner: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!

Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?

Owner: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.

Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour
ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.

Owner: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.

Mr. Praline: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got 'im home?

Owner: The Norwegian Blue prefers keepin' on it's back! Remarkable bird, id'nit, squire? Lovely plumage!

Mr. Praline: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the
first place was that it had been NAILED there.

(pause)

Owner: Well, o'course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and
VOOM! Feeweeweewee!

Mr. Praline: "VOOM"?!? Mate, this bird wouldn't "voom" if you put four million volts through it! 'E's bleedin' demised!

Owner: No no! 'E's pining!

     Mr. Praline: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e
     rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the
     bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!

(pause)

Owner: Well, I'd better replace it, then. (he takes a quick peek behind the counter) Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh,
we're right out of parrots.

Mr. Praline: I see. I see, I get the picture.

Owner: I got a slug.

(pause)

Mr. Praline: Pray, does it talk?

Owner: Nnnnot really.

Mr. Praline: WELL IT'S HARDLY A BLOODY REPLACEMENT, IS IT?!!???!!?

Owner: N-no, I guess not. (gets ashamed, looks at his feet)

Mr. Praline: Well.

(pause)

Owner: (quietly) D'you.... d'you want to come back to my place?

Mr. Praline: (looks around) Yeah, all right, sure.

How addicted to blogging are you?

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:14:20 GMT

71%

Free Online Dating from JustSayHi

Did you miss me?

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:51:54 GMT

I'm still alive! Whew! it's been a rocky 6 months, with one thing after another, through home decorating, to learning to be a Linux user full-time.

Now that I have more time to collect my thoughts, I hope to be blogging again soon. Now I wish to try out some of the emoticons on the toolbar ... here goes ....

ahhh ... I feel better for that.

Best wishes

MonkeyMagic698

Chatting with a friend who has an autistic nephew

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 23:11:21 GMT

So just another Friday evening in front of my web camera, while being on IRC. I had just woken up, and was still half a sleep when Mike and someone called Gina started to chat with me on IRC.

* Guest110 is now known as gina
<james> hello gina
<gina> wake up
<james> I am awake. hah
<james> I moved
<gina> u r alive
<mike> hey james
<james> yeswhat looked to be alphabetical letterswhat looked to be alphabetical letters
<james> hey mike
<mike> hey james, check this photo out
<mike> http://???????/view_photo.php?set_albumName=notAvailableToThePublic..Sorry

(At this point I see a photo of a child with a sheet of A4 paper with what looked to be a hand written story.)

* gina has quit (Bye bye)
* Guest726 is now known as gina
<james> I see it mike, who is in the photo?
<gina> stop yawning
<mike> thats my nephew
<mike> he's austistic
* gina has quit (Bye bye)
<mike> if you look at the paper, it
<mike> appears to be random letters
<mike> but it's actually a multiplication table
<mike> done with letters

(I look at the photo again but this time I click the zoom button, and sure enough it's hand writtern letter which appear to be random)

<mike> he does it in his head
<james> I'm speechless.
<james> that's pretty amazing.
<mike> yeah, they are thinking he might be a savant
<mike> and on the paper he just write the remainder
<mike> but if u ask him verbally
<mike> he'll say like B if he had to go through the alphabet twice
<mike> and then the remainder
<mike> it's crazy
<mike> so like "O" times "Y" ends up being "NK"
<mike> because O*Y is 15*25
<mike> or 375
<mike> N is 14
<mike> which is how many times he could go through the alphabet
<mike> and then K is 11, the remainder
<mike> so (14x26)+11 is 375
<mike> crazy
<mike> especially since he does it in his head
<mike> and 6 months ago he was just learning addition

I'm not sure what age this child is but it looks like he has a bright future in front of him.

J.

Fixmystreet.com

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:17:03 GMT

If you live in the UK and there's something broken, out-of-order, burst, vandalised, dumped, burnt out, cracked, or stationary and dangerous to the public, then let fixmystreet.com know about it.

I've already contacted them about the drain overflowing with water in my street and they were on the case pretty sharp. Here is the link to http://www.fixmystreet.com

J.

thinkuknow.co.uk

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:05:15 GMT

I know there's quite a few school children on Windows Live Spaces, you might find this link useful http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

I don't really think much about the dark side of the Internet, but I'm sure there is some really scary people there. Thinkuknow.co.uk will help you be more aware of how to keep safe while surfing the Net.

With regards to Social Networks, here's what they have to say ...

<snip>

Things to think through:

Only upload pictures that you’d be happy for your mum to see – anything too sexy to be passed round the dinner table should NOT make it on to the web, as it could encourage sex-pests to contact you
Don’t post your phone number or email address on your homepage. Think about it – why would anyone actually need this info when they can message you privately via Myspace or Bebo?
Don’t post pictures of you or your mates wearing school uniform – if dodgy people see your school badge, they can work out where you are and come and find you
Adjust your account settings so only approved friends can instant message you. This won’t ruin your social life – new people can still send you friend requests and message you, they just won’t be able to pester you via IM
Tick the “no pic forwarding” option on your Myspace settings page – this will stop people sending pictures from your page around the world without your consent
Don’t give too much away in a blog. Yes, tell the world you’re going to a party on Saturday night. But don’t post details of where it is. Real friends can phone you to get details, and strangers shouldn’t be able to see this kind of information.

</snip>

If anybody wants to see me in a school uniform that won't be possible, since I haven't worn that in over 20 years, but I'm sure we can come to some arrangements. If you are unsure of the safety of what you are doing you can always ask me first.

MonkeyMagic698

My mum wants to sue me

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:24:00 GMT

My mother informed today during dinner that she will consider suing me for loss of privacy as a result of my action of broadcasting her on the Internet without her knowledge.

The fact is that I have never broadcast on the Internet without informing those around me. Her concerns are valid, but in this case she has no evidence to say that she was put on a live broadcast without her knowledge.

I take this matter seriously, and privacy for other is something which we all must respect. I hereby acknowledge this issue by using the camera as my witness in any future events whereby I inform others of my intent to broadcast live within my own home. Note: I said my own home, not anybody else's, I own the property.

Personal details have been intentionally withheld to protect those individuals privacy and reduce the possibility of further litigious matters.

There's more about legal mattters from http://law.freeadvice.com/general_practice/suing_being_sued/

MonkeyMagic698

Guy Kawasaki doesn't read blogs

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:36:16 GMT

I just happened to be watching a vlog on Podtech.net and I saw Guy Kawasaki (a well known technology marketeer) explaining why he doesn't read blogs. That's OK Mr Kawasaki, you don't need to read blogs providing you can get someone to read the blogs for you.

The truth is marketeers and journalist like to play down blogs as if they never happened so that they can promote their own stories. Although they come to realise that most of their research and content will eventually come from blogs.

It doesn't mean to say people like Mr Kawasaki won't be successful in their endeavors, they just have to be a bit more considerate. Otherwise they might find themselves fighting a losing battle, a bit like Microsoft fighting Open Source.

Update 23:23 11 Jun : Just watched from a blog the "Guy Kawasaki Interviews Steve Wozniak" video. Thanks to blogsearch.google.com

MonkeyMagic698.

Justin.tv is down?

Thu, 24 May 2007 11:15:24 GMT

Just saw this from http://justin.tv

We're sorry, but something went wrong.

We've been notified about this issue and we'll take a look at it shortly.

What went wrong Justin? was it the constant annoyance of those people on the chat? ... maybe you had enough of all those other people hanging around your apartment, and giving you no privacy.

I hope Justin is Ok.

Update 24-May 23:17: Justin is fine, the site was back up and running not longer after this blog was first published.

The Internet is a small world

Sun, 20 May 2007 20:15:16 GMT

I accidentally bumped into whereismike, (the trucker who broadcasts from his truck). Here is the transcript from my IRC channel.

<Guest-927> hello
<MonkeyMagic698> hello
<Guest-927> just looking around
<MonkeyMagic698> great
<Guest-927> thinking about using ustream
<MonkeyMagic698> do it
<Guest-927> how you like it?
<Guest-927> I run a 24.7 cam now
<MonkeyMagic698> I just let do it's thing.
<Guest-927> from my semi truck
<MonkeyMagic698> *let it
<Guest-927> going down the road
<MonkeyMagic698> I've seen some of those already.
<Guest-927> yeah
<Guest-927> probably seen mine then
<Guest-927> lol
<MonkeyMagic698> http://whereismike.livetruckcam.net/
<Guest-927> Thats me
<Guest-927> I'm mike
<Guest-927> lol
<MonkeyMagic698> lol
<Guest-927> we're looking around for another upload server
<Guest-927> ok, gotta run. Have a good day.
<MonkeyMagic698> ok cya
<Guest-927> see on whereismike
<Guest-927> lol
<MonkeyMagic698> sure
* Guest-927 has quit (Quit)

Cool I met mike!

If I can broadcast live on Ustream.tv anybody can do it, all you need is a webcam (preferrably with built-in mic), a Web browser (flash-enabled) and a broadband connection to the Internet.

MonkeyMagic698

I'm truckin now!

Sat, 05 May 2007 17:30:52 GMT

Justin.tv might be the latest Internet voyeurism to hit our web browsers but let's not forget these:

Not sure how long I can keep watching all these webcams before my eyes stop working, but I'll try and keep a eye on things. I'm not sure a webcam can survive without some kind of blog or a chat window, that's where Justin.tv scores bonus points at the moment, with ustream.tv not being far behind.

Happy truck spotting!

MonkeyMagic698

How Justin.tv could get into virtual reality.

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:59:00 GMT

How about Justin agreed to have tiny little metal spikes inserted into his brain through a simple surgical process. These spikes would receive the same signals that would normally just be passed directly to the other parts of his body, but would relay messages back to a computer wirelessly. That way a 3 model could be used to show what Justin was doing at any particular time eg. walking, sitting down, or even facial expressions.

At the moment we can see where Justing is going through the camera, but it would more interesting to see Justin as a 3D character which could be mapped into a 3D version of San Francisco in Second Life. There are times however when you would want Justin to walk around virtual citys from. To do this he would need a cage dome which is specifically designed for Virtual reality, he would climb inside, wearing a pair of 3D glasses and off he would go.

If Justin wants to stay ahead of the competition these are the sorts of things which could really increase viewer figures.

MonkeyMagic698.

Ubuntu = love

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 17:00:43 GMT

I'm writing this from the Ubuntu 7.40 Live CD, using my Wireless laptop (Sony VGN-N11M) and it works amazingly well.

If Dell don't start selling Ubuntu preinstalled on PCs, they will be missing out on a huge opportunity. You will have to try Ubuntu for yourself to understand what I'm talking about.

Thanks Ubuntu!

blogs are doing just fine

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:59:52 GMT

Sometimes I worry about mentioning blogs so much but really it's perfectly natural. If we didn't have blogs you wouldn't be reading this right now. I just noticed that the word blog is mentioned 4 times in my address bar. This is how it reads ...

http://actionmanjr.spaces.live.com/?_c11_BlogPart_blogpart=blogentry&_c=BlogPart&_c02_owner=1

So it seems I'm not the only one that is obsessed with the word blog. On that note Technorati's statistics are looking impressive.

The future's bright ... the future's twitter

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:08:42 GMT

Twitter works because people are interested in what other people are doing at any given time. Whoever created twitter had a vision that on one else could see. I am not that important that I need friends, family, work colleagues, or neighbours to know what I'm doing and where I'm doing it.
Twitter puts people on a social radar which has a higher frequency than blogging. With blogging you would normally blog every day, but with twitter you tweet maybe between 1 or 10 times a day.
The higher frequency of up-to-date information about what a person is doing the higher the probability that communication with this person will be more productive.

I can see it now a website for each of these twitterdating, companytwitter, familytwitter, yahoo groups twitter, msn groups twitter, myspace twitter, NHS-twitter, food-twitter, health-twitter and the list goes on.

I like the idea of the NHS-twitter where it's actually contains aggregate twitters from other websites for a particular patient. Whenever a change is made to any of the patients twitter feeds the aggregator updates the local twitter. The patient would use the following twitters which would feed the main twitter, the twitterings would be:

health-twitter: how are you feeling?
food-twitter: what did you eat?
twitter: what are you doing?

Note: (each tweet would be 140 characters or less)

Before the doctor chats to the patient he can check what their progress is from the comfort of his or her armchair. The doctor could even twitter back on the NHS-twitter, the conversation would go something like this ...

DrKildare: @MrsFrumpton, glad to hear you are regularly taking exercise, don't forget to stretch first.

I would make all the twitters public, that way people with similar ailments can chat and help each other out, saving the doctor valuable to get on with reading the twitter websites and blogging.

MonkeyMagic698

The start of the warm weather brings trouble

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:25:12 GMT

Where I live I know that with the first hint of a warm evening the local neds start to get wrestless. It's like they have woken from hibernation and the spring is celebrated by driving along city streets as fast as possible, and for those that don't have cars get involved in fights. I only heard 1 ambulance tonight so I hope it's nothing serious, but last year it seemed like there was sirens blaring all evening. I don't get to hear the news of what goes on personally, but I do read the local news paper regularly, so I know what to expect. It's not anything that should worry me too much since most neighbourhoods have their fare share of crime ridden areas, but it would be reassuring to know if these issues were being resolved. Maybe I'm just getting old, although I can't remember there being so many gun crimes when I was young or police officers having to be permanently present within schools. J.

Photo Album: My Blog Photos

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:54:41 GMT

My Blog Photos

blogmagazine

Image(170)

restart

Slide0002-tm.png

math_child.jpg

Photo Album: blog

Sun, 31 Jul 2005 04:14:19 GMT

blog

award

dilbert20051830790106

firstblog

southpark_me

blog2

lookatmytongue

catastrophic_error

24gasb

magpie131105

bad_infection

More photos...