Hotspotr – Community WiFi Cafe Hotspots

Hotspotr is a sweet mashup that displays cafe’s with wireless using Google Maps.  It’s community driven, so go enter more for Melbourne!

The Peaceful Pill Handbook

Dr Philip Nitschke and Dr Fiona Stewart, authors of banned book “The Peaceful Pill Handbook” claim in a recent press release that “Free speech is dead in Australia”.  I had similar feelings when I heard the news that their book would not be legally allowed for sale in our country.  Regardless of my thoughts on the topic of Euthanasia (another blog post perhaps!) I am strongly against the banning of any books, and censorship in general.

Anyway, Cameron wrote a post about it and I thought I’d chime in that I agree with him.

Technorati tags: Peaceful Pill

Australia Day Flyover Imagery in Google Maps

 

As widely reported in the medial, Google took high-resolution images above Sydney on Australia day.  The Google Earth Blog reveals that Google Maps now contains the images.

Go look for your friends!

[Update: The Australia day imagery was part of a larger Google Earth update.]

Beer Launching Fridge

Why didn’t we think to make one of these as a uni project??

John W. Cornwell has built a Beer Launching Fridge. It tosses a cold can of beer to you while you’re sitting on the couch watching TV, proving – once and for all – that engineering is cool.

Robotic Beer Launching Refrigerator

Red Curry

As mentioned in the recent kitchen gadgets post, here’s the recipe I used for my Red Curry.

Ingredients

• 3 tbs of Thai Gourmet Red Curry Paste
• 500 gms meat (I prefer chicken in my curries – vegitarians can also use tofu or whatnot)
  • Just cut them into small cubes (say 15ml square) or thin strips
• 300-odd gms Vegies, here’s what I used but add whatever:
  • Water chestnuts (buy a can of them)
  • 1 large carrot, cut into thin slices
  • A handful of green beans (top ‘n’ tail ‘em)
  • Capsicum (I used yellow, but they’re all good!)
• 1 cup Coconut milk (or cream – I prefer the cream, it’s a litle thicker)
• Rice
• 1 1/2 tbs Fish sauce
  • Go easy with this stuff, it’s nasty!

Directions

Put your rice in the rice cooker, add water, turn it on and forget about it ’till later. Throw the curry paste in the wok on moderate heat for about a minute or until it’s smellin’ good. Add the meat and cook it for about 10 mins. Throw in your vegies and the coconut milk and bring it all to boil before turning down the heat to simmer for about 20 mins. Add the fish sauce (try not to spill it or add too much – it’s pungent!) and cook for another few minutes.

Feeds two, maybe three. If you added a bit more of everything (except the fish sauce!) it could serve three to four.

You may notice some similarities between this recipe and the one on the curry paste label.

BTW, although I’ve cheated and used an off-the-shelf paste, it’s pretty damn tasty. However I’ve still yet to find a good green curry paste and may just have to make my own…

Enjoy!

Australia to phase out incandescent bulbs by 2010

Engadget recently covered Malcolm Turnbull’s proposal to phase out incandescent light bulbs in favour of compact fluorescent bulbs.  (The comments on the article discuss much of what I cover here – and then some!)

Let’s start by saying that I am a big fan of these lights.  They’re more efficient and, if you choose carefully, the light can be more pleasing (I like the “soft white” light).  I’m phasing out all of my incandescents as they go pop.

However, while Turnbull’s intentions may be good (benefit of the doubt – the cynic in me thinks that it’s more likely a political move) I don’t believe phasing out is the right implementation.  Increasing taxes on incandescents or subsidising costs for compact fluorescents (perhaps a combination of both?) would be better IMHO. 

The reason is that compact fluorescent bulbs aren’t perfect in all situations.  Two that immediately spring to mind are motion detection lights (like the common automatic outdoor lights) and fridge lights.  CF’s don’t respond well to switching on and off quickly – it shortens their life dramatically and there is typically a lag when the light is powered.  They also have problems with cold temperatures.  Both of these scenarios are currently better handled with incandescents.

But for general home use please consider making the switch to CF’s.  Although the initial outlay is higher they’ll last a lot longer and will have less environmental impact.  As a bonus they cost less to run (typically you’ll recoup the higher outlay and then some).

Tip: Buy a couple of different brands and models before replacing every light in your house.  Most models give off a different quality of light and you’ll need to find one you like.

Kitchen gadgets

I’m far from a gourmet chef (despite my claims).  But I like gadgets and tools of any description.  And, while I’m, err, inexperienced (some have used the phrase “useless“) at cooking I do enjoy it when I make the time.

Tonight I made a red chicken curry and I’d only be mildly overexaggerating if I state that it was the best food I’ve ever eaten.  While I was cooking I really enjoyed two of my kitchen tools and thought I’d share.

Firstly, my Wustof knives.  Tonight I was carving through chicken like it was warm butter.  My vege’s practically sliced themselves for fear of Wustof fury.  If you’re one of my friends that hasn’t heard me talk about these knives, consider yourself lucky.  They’re great, frickin’ awesome, highly recommended and I’ll try and leave the praise at that.  They only have two problems.  They’re fiendishly expensive here in Australia.  Do what I do and buy them overseas for (literally) half the price.  If that option isn’t available then try searching online – I’ve also purchased some reasonably that way.  But don’t expect to wander down to the King Of Knives or Myer and get ‘em for a song.  Oh, the second problem is that I can no longer blame the tools for being the worlds slowest food preparer. 

The other tool I used tonight (for the first time) was my rice cooker.  It was a present from Mum and Dad for Christmas and, while I’ve always thought such devices are great, it was proven tonight.  I may have mentioned that I’m a crap inexperienced cook and am lacking one of the gifts of a real chef - timing.  I can make rice, no problems (absorption method, slow boil, microwave - whatever!).  But when I try to make rice while cooking the rest of the meal I fall to pieces.  Inevitably, my food comes out burnt or the rice comes out gluggy.  Can never seem to get the timing right.  With the rice cooker it doesn’t matter.  Just rinse the rice, stuff it in the cooker with some water and voila!  The machine makes perfect rice and can keep it in that state for up to five hours!  Now I’ve just got to get better at cooking the rest of the meal…

Oh, another fantastic gadget is my pasta pot.  Another Christmas present, this time from Luke & Collette, this pot is sweet.  It’s got a strainer built-in to the lid!  When your pasta is ready, instead of dirtying your colander, just twist the lid of the pot (to lock it) then pour the water out through the perforations.  Simple and effective.  Whenever I empty that water I smile.

What kitchen gadgetry do you love?

Recent promises to self

Before Gayle headed North to Darwin I asked that she post at least once a week; in turn I promised to try for twice a week.  “Promised” to “try”, see the problem here?  Vague, easy to weasle out of!  And yes, I’ve fallen well short of my mark.  I’m hoping that by stating the “two per week” goal here in the blog, for all to see, it’ll be easier for me to stick to. 

A second promise to self was to go out taking photos at least once a fortnight.  Doesn’t matter if it’s for half an hour or a whole day as long as the time is put aside for the explicit purpose of taking photos (which I love doing).  Work/life balance has been out of whack lately and this is one simple way to start setting it right ^[1].

You guys have to hassle me if I get slack.

---

[1] Spending more time with Melissa, family and friends is another, but I’m not going to detail that kind of stuff in my blog. 

Valentines Day

I really don’t like the whole Valentines Day thing.  I don’t feel that it should be decreed that we ought to express our feelings to our loved ones on a particular day. Having said that…

Happy Valentines Day baby!  :*

[OK, I'm a hypocrite...]

Uni stem cell ban ‘undermines research freedom’

Sydney Uni should overturn its decision to ban stem cell research in its new research centre.

The centre is to be built on land that is currently owned by a Catholic residential college and one of the stipulations of purchasing the land is that stem cell research cannot be performed on it.

That’s a perfectly fine thing to stipulate by the college but in my opinion it constricts the pursuit of research (especially given that Sydney Uni is a secular institution). Look for land elsewhere Sydney Uni.

ABC News Online

Google Maps down under

[Update! Google has just added Australian road information to Google Earth!]

Sweet, Google has just announced extended support for the Google Maps Australia site. You can now perform business searches and get driving directions.

Now, if they could just add the Google Maps road information to Google Earth…

[BTW, until they do, you can use this tip as a workaround; it will download the correct 'tile' from Google Maps and semi-transparently overlay it in Google Earth.]