Nokia 6230

I got a Nokia 6230, and it's a nice little phone. I'm experimenting with J2ME programming, and I may post on that soon.

Windows XP reinstall

My desktop computer was becoming very unstable, so, after four years, I decided to repartition (bye-bye Linux!), reformat my hard disk, and reinstall Windows XP. My previous installation was over Windows 98, so it will be interesting to see whether a fresh install is more stable than an upgrade.

My data is backed up to CD-R's, and most of my correspondence is done using webmail, so there were no problems there.

I also use Gmail to archive my important documents, as I trust the people at Google to look after my data far better than I ever would.

The only thing I lost were my RSS feeds (which I forgot to back up), although I did export the list of subscriptions, I just have to find them. I think I'll start reading RSS feeds using an online service as well, for the reasons listed above.

Half-Life 2

Some colleagues have commented that Half-Life 2 is an excellent game.

I'm seriously considering buying a new PC, so that I can play it.

Gauteng Street Atlas - 3rd Edition

I bought the third edition of the Gauteng Street Atlas (sold at R179,00) produced by GeoGraphic Maps cc, because it covers most of the urban areas in Gauteng in one book, something which rival companies like MapStudio don't do yet.

There are problems with the maps, with some glaring spelling mistakes ("Centurion" is sometimes spelled "Centurian", and "Brits" as "Britz"). I have noticed accuracy problems, with at least one four-way stop represented as a traffic light, and the traffic lights at the entrance to one township (Olievenhoutbosch) being omitted, along with the rest of the township. Airforce bases are mislabelled as "airports". Metropolitan route numberings are also missing on some pages, which might be a problem for some people. The pages are also quite cluttered with on-map advertising. However, this advertising has a positive side-effect - it can be used to derive landmarks.

Despite the negatives, the book is very useful, and I have replaced two old MapStudio guides (Witwatersrand and Pretoria) with the Gauteng Street Atlas. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to find their way around Gauteng, and doesn't have the money to shell out on MapStudio guides.

The Mabopane Centurion Development Corridor

The website of the Mabopane Centurion Development Corridor, which will hopefully develop the neglected western parts of Tshwane.

Now for some pedantic whining:
Some people still don't know the difference between Pretoria and Tshwane. Here, is a page that explains the difference. Pretoria is one part of Tshwane, Centurion is another part of Tshwane. Centurion is not part of Pretoria, it is part of Tshwane. It hasn't been part of Pretoria for years. The people who do the traffic at 94.7 Highveld Stereo should take note of this.

Elections

If I was an American voter, I would have voted for John Kerry. It was in America's interest to kick Bush out of office. The big spending "conservative" who panders to religious fanatics, and lied his country into war did not deserve a second term.

But I'm not an American voter, and I am actually quite pleased with the result . To South Africans, the election result didn't really matter. In the Middle East, it's unlikely that Kerry would have done anything different to Bush. Indeed, Kerry would probably have been goaded into aggression, in order to prove that he was not "soft".

My only regret about the Bush victory is that I was deprived of the opportunity of watching the extremist Bush supporters who frequent parts of the internet melting down. Pity.

Bollywood on SABC 3

While recovering from the flu last weekend, I caught the second half of a Bollywood movie on SABC3, called Lajja. It explored the oppression of women in India, and it didn't pull any punches.

Despite having a contrived plot, sometimes-sloppy subtitles, and awful music, it was entertaining, and I watched it to the end.

If you are stuck at home on a Saturday night, check out the Bollywood movies on SABC3, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Bush supporters on Bush

This woman seems to think that being critical of George W. Bush is "... a slap in the face, not only to George Bush, but if we truly believe what the Bible says . . . our Heavenly Father just got a whack in the face, too..." [via LRC]

Also check out this...interesting.... Flash animation that glorifies Bush (large download).

Links 15/10/2004

• How Valium comes in handy during a war
• Does Al-Qaeda really exist?
  
• The "bullwhip effect" - the magnification of demand fluctuations as one moves up the supply chain
• Google launches a service to help you find files on your own computer. The download is small, but it seems to need 1GB of free space to install.
  
• Soweto turned 100
• The history of containerized shipping, using a networking analogy
• Swarm-semiotics - weird, but interesting
• Some links to linguistics articles and a link to this essay on sentence diagramming
• Is the MP3 format losing ground?
• A "battleground state" that no one really cares about
• Broadband over power lines gets boost from US government
  
• Wavelet tutorial links. I haven't checked any out yet though.
• A free online book on digital signal processing. I don't know how good it is, since I just started reading it today.
• A Muslim examination of Islamist suicide terrorism

I have the temporary use of a digital camera. I'll probably spend the weekend fiddling around with it.

Links - 12/10/2004

• Eating in the Middle Ages
• Salon.com's Pilot gets an imitator
• How the pioneer of nanotechnology fell from grace
• Scientists vote for their favourite equations
• Google starts searching inside books
• Microsoft and campaign contributions [via Anil Dash]