Latest News
- Israel: Outlook for tough U.N. steps on Iran "grim"
- Greece says G20 to review financial speculation
- U.N. sees no security vacuum as U.S. troops exit Haiti
- Yemen offers talks with separatists
- Clinton says elections key to Haiti stability
- Two NATO soldiers killed in eastern Afghanistan
- U.S. apologizes to Libya for dismissive comments
- Family of slain U.S. activist sues Israel
- Belfast votes in favor of police, justice transfer
- Vatican says wrong to single out Church over abuse
- SpaceX fires rocket engines in quest to fly cargo
- Scientists say UK risks losing innovation edge
- Big Bang experiment may reveal dark universe: CERN
- Scientists find why "sunshine" vitamin D is crucial
- Obama to push White House vision for NASA in April
- Scientists find why "sunshine" vitamin D is crucial
- It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs
- Methane bubbles in Arctic seas stir warming fears
- Your best diet? It might be in your genes
- Spell-covered burial chamber found in Egypt's Saqqara
- EPA defends plan to regulate Greenhouse gas emissions
- Impact of Ancient Indonesian Volcanic Eruption
- Neglected tropical diseases NEED to be studied
- West Africa mangroves impacted by salt extraction
- China to develop new energy source - combustible ice
- The nuclear waste issue must be solved
- Garlic is Good for You
- All Fish Tested from U.S. Streams Found Contaminated with Mercury
- EU climate funding melting?
- Iran and Qatar Align on Environment
- U.S. weighing China Internet censorship case
- Cisco leapfrogs rivals with faster router
- U.S. weighing China Internet censorship case: USTR
- U.S. considers some free wireless broadband service
- NFL signs mobile phone deal with Verizon Wireless
- Pink Floyd battles EMI in online royalties case
- Cyber-bullying cases put heat on Google, Facebook
- Lender putting www.sex.com domain on auction block
- Google, Dish testing new TV search service: report
- U.S. looks to software to help open 3 nations
- Ex-president's body stolen for ransom, Cyprus says
- Chocolate-powered racecar makes sustainability sexy
- Residents flee Angolan village invaded by elephants
- Canada drops plans for politically correct anthem
- U.S. blacks, Hispanics losing more sleep over worries
- Seal meat to be on menu at Canadian Parliament
- Aussie underwear has gone bananas
- Hamas bans men from women's hair salons in Gaza
- Chinese youth accused of not being fighting fit
- Pilot with fake licence arrested at airport
- Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) has congratulated the Yaruwu people of Broome on their historic native title compensation agreement signed in Broome 25 February 2010.
- Close the Gap Prime Minister's 2010 report to parliament
- Positions Vacant At ANTaR
- ANTaR Makes Australia Day Call for A Year of Re-commitment to Addressing the Unfinished Business of ‘Reconciliation’
Updates
The updating process gets easier but I wish Drupal 7 was here:-(
Drupal 7 looks good and we are setting up a "Sandbox" as soon as there is a beta release.
Mid April is the current guess.
The only new things on the site are behind the scenes - for example Jason Guo (Xmphony.net) supplied the mynode module that helps me track what we have done on the site - and who has done what. Testing it now but it does look useful. Thanks again Jason:-)
Site update
Well there you go!
I have just updated the site to the latest version of Drupal. The only thing left to do is to update the theme that is the base for the theming of the site. It's not a major issue so I'm putting it off for the moment...
An Inconvenient Truth
I am a bit bored with wingnuts attempting to discredit Al Gore.
They tried to "bag" him for his role in getting the internet going. Well, bad luck, in the 1980s, the internet was just a few computers wired up in the Pentagon for research. As a senator, Al Gore sponsored the very first bill to turn it into a much wider “information superhighway.” Vincent Cerf, who is widely regarded as the technological founder of the internet, has publicly said that it is thanks to Gore that the internet is used by all of us today. So when Gore said in a 1997 interview that he “took the initiative” in making the internet possible, it was true. The other Gore “lies” have equally impressive truths behind them.
Another page...
Hey! What's going on...
This is Tracey reading a book. Proving that she can leave the computer screen...
When she is onscreen she thinks it's important to keep an eye on...
Getup
Rant space
Given that every man, woman - and a range of what are obviously aliens - can write whatever they want to on the interblog, then, thought I , why not me.
I too can be opinionated and biassed. I may not approach the lofty peaks of self-satisfied bigotry of an Andrew Bolt or a Piers Ackerman but I can try...
Q & A with Dr Yu No Fat
Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.
Comfort Butterfly
Ludwig sent me a link to the amnesty internationals campaign in support of the comfort women who were used as sex slaves during the second world war.
As a result I have created a couple of butterflies to show my solidarity. here it is if you want to make one the address is here.
The trouble with apture -Redux
Apture seems a fine way of doing a lot of fast linking to things like maps, encyclopedias and other reference materials.
The problems were solved (it was Firefox - updated version is good-o)
PS I've STILL got a picture of a finger monkey
A Paltridge in a pear tree
The Climate Change Denialists are scraping the bottom of the barrel now. They are touting Garth Paltridge as their latest weapon against the Alarmists.
I wonder how many of them have actually read anything that he has said - aside from the cover blurbs of course?
I haven't read his book. I have read extracts from it, have listenedd to him talking on the ABC, watched him on YouTube and read a few letters to papers he has written.
Apture back on track...
Apture is a newish technology that allows one to have inline references and links. We were having some problems integrating it with the editors we use on this site, as mentioned in a previous post. However it turned out that it was a browser issue. We upgraded to Firefox 3.5.2 and the issue went away.
The following Apture (embed) tells part of the story...
Oooh! My first blog entry...
This is my first blog entry on upstarts. I am using it to find out how to get rss feeds happening so that they cross over into facebook.
I really hope this works.
All this playing around has given us a better understanding of how facebook works at any rate so all is not lost. :-)
Pfoofing with Pfacebook
Working out what can be passed between our Drupal based website and Facebook is sort of driving me mental.
Well I was well there to start with you might say but nonetheless it is an exercise infrustration because both applications keep changing their codebase.
Persistence is not futile
We continue...
Stop censorship of the Internet in Australia
The Australian Federal Government is currently deciding whether or not to "censor" internet access in Australia.
I think that this is a very bad idea.
Getup are running a campaign to let the government know what people like me think about it. I encourage you to use their resource which I have embedded here.
Where has...gone?
Upstarts used to host two sites that still attract many enquiries:
1. "Whales of Australia" was a guide to whales and whale watching in Australia. It has not been maintained for nearly three years.
2. "IDEAS Magazine" was a magazine of social commentary. It has not been maintained for about four years. if you are trying to access previously viewed articles - or just want to know what it was about - a version from about 1998 is archived under the PANDORA project of the National Library of Australia. (http://pandora.nla.gov.au/nph-arch/O1998-Mar-12//http://www.upstarts.net...)
