Rants, raves, whinges… all of the above
Today I'm off on a plane to meet my parents and brother in Brunei, where we'll be spending some time with Mum's relatives and travelling around Brunei and Sarawak. I've got a brand-spanking new 512 Mb Memory Stick for my camera, which means I can take around 300 photos without offloading them. I promise to take lots and lots of photos!
I'll be back on the 31st of December, just in time to say bye to Lucy before she goes on her Geography trip to Thailand.
Farewell!
Lucy and I went to Sel & Poivre (a French restaurant on Victoria Street in Darlinghurst) last night because of my trip today. We've been there before, but not for about a year and a half, so we were due for a return!
We were given a table right on the sidewalk, and the staff were extremely friendly (which is always nice) and attentive. The food was delicious! We had Tasmanian oysters as an entree. For mains, Lucy had a salmon tartare and I had "North African" style lamb shanks, which would just melt in your mouth… Coupled with a nice Chardonnay, great conversation and a lovely companion, it was very enjoyable.
After that… dessert! We had heard good things about the chocolate souffle, but by the time we got around to dessert, there were none left! (*cough* maybe it's because someone pre-ordered 8 of them - you know who you are *cough*) Despite that, we had a creme brulee (mmm…) and a tarte tatin (mmm mmm…), topped off with a cheese and fruit platter.
Surprisingly, the bill was no-where near what I would have expected (a good thing). I highly recommend this restaurant for a great dinner, although bookings are imperative!
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, as a result of the Surveillance Devices Act, federal and state police now have the ability to install "surveillance technologies" (including common spyware apps like keystroke loggers). Lovely. There goes a whole lot of civil rights down the drain.
Continue reading 'SMH: Australian Police Given Power To Use 'Spyware''
New Scientist: "The in-crowd" - Takes a look at homosexuality from a biological and social perspective.
Sydney Morning Herald: "Hicks details Guantanamo 'abuse'" - That's disgusting. No one has the right to treat any other human being like that, "suspected" terrorist, or not.
Sydney Morning Herald: "Countries that refuse US immunity 'face aid cuts'" - Gee, if that isn't bullying and blackmail, I don't know what is. Here's a court that has been set up to deal with war crimes, and because the US administration doesn't agree with it (most likely because some of the administration could be held liable for war crimes *cough* Guantanamo Bay *cough*), it blackmails a whole lot of other countries so they cannot be a part of the ICC, either. Shame.
iPodLounge: The iPod Year in Review 2004 - A nicely balanced look at the iPod in 2004.
I saw Team America: World Police tonight. Has to be one of the funniest movies I've seen this year. While Rory already has a very… thorough review of the film, I thought I might add my own thoughts.
Continue reading 'Team America: World Police'
DrunkenBatman has written a rant thesis on the security of Microsoft. It's a long read (13,000 words), but I found it to be very insightful.
While I'm on the topic of phones, there are reviews of the Motorola E1000 on The Register and 3G.co.uk. This is supposed to be coming out on 3 soon in Australia… It looks a bit big in the photos, but is shorter than my Z600 (when opened), a little bit wider and slimmer (when the Z600 is closed).
