A fun 4.5hr run/scramble up onto the Livingstone range.

A fun 4.5hr run/scramble up onto the Livingstone range.

https://goo.gl/photos/Xthgso1urqxoMjfw8

https://goo.gl/photos/Xthgso1urqxoMjfw8

A Cold, wet and windy 4hr hike today. Most of the scenery hidden by the fog, clods and rain. Every so often  something amazing would appear.
https://goo.gl/photos/Xthgso1urqxoMjfw8

My beer at dinner was made with this water.

My beer at dinner was made with this water.

My last flight of Summer 2015 in Europe. Markstein.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoDNYzEYP8w&feature=autoshare

A nice morning flight.

A nice morning flight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9ECruuUAb0&feature=autoshare

Another fun flight.

Another fun flight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LZSvNkIwPg&feature=autoshare

Awesome!

Awesome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4DIS-qYFgM&feature=share

An unexpected great flight yesterday.

An unexpected great flight yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClaqtyS2M4U&feature=autoshare

https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Strong_SSL_Security_On_Apache2.html

https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Strong_SSL_Security_On_Apache2.html
https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Strong_SSL_Security_On_Apache2.html

Amazing views on our mountain hike/run today ;-)

Amazing views on our mountain hike/run today ;-)

I found a dragon baby.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/866502979

A 4 hour mountain run for me today.

A 4 hour mountain run for me today.

Destiny Altitude: Performance By The Numbers

http://destinyaltitude.blogspot.com/2009/04/performance-by-numbers.html

Second try after the first video was blocked due to my choice of music.

Second try after the first video was blocked due to my choice of music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK0YoXMjlGo&feature=autoshare

First flight on Masala 2 XS (demo glider)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ6iPtmmXXA&feature=autoshare

Advance Pi 19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB4IJ_vNn-Q&feature=autoshare

My first flight in a month after I re-injured my knee the last time I tried. This time all went well.

My first flight in a month after I re-injured my knee the last time I tried. This time all went well.

Welcome to the Internet in Italy.

Welcome to the Internet in Italy.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/832019398

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/832019398

JavaScript GBA Emulator http://hn.premii.com/#/article/9872531

JavaScript GBA Emulator http://hn.premii.com/#/article/9872531
http://hn.premii.com/#/article/9872531

This is so funny. Can you see why?

This is so funny. Can you see why?

The average American woman now weighs as much as the average American man weighed in 1960.

The average American woman now weighs as much as the average American man weighed in 1960.

Both U.S. men and women have been packing on the pounds since 1960, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that the average American woman now weighs 166.2 pounds – nearly identical to what American men weighed in the 1960s. And U.S. men have expanded greatly in the same time period, having gained nearly 30 pounds from the 1960s to 2010 – 166.3 pounds to 195.5 pounds today.

The CDC data shows that both sexes have gained almost an inch in height from the 1960s, which factors into some of the overall weight gain. But women have seen an 18.5 percent increase in weight gain from 1960 and men have shown a 17.6 percent increase in overall weight gain.

Today’s American male weighs nearly as much as 1.5 American females from the 1960s, with today’s U.S. male weighing an average 195.5 pounds and having a nearly 40-inch waist circumference (39.7 inches).

American women today have an average waist circumference of 37.5 inches and weigh in at 166.2 pounds, up from about 140 pounds in 1960.

The CDC data shows that more than one-third (35.1 percent) of U.S. adults over the age of 20 are considered obese. And 69 percent of American adults over the age of 20 are either overweight or obese.

More than 1-in-5 U.S. children between the ages of 12-19 are considered obese, with 17.7 percent of kids ages 6-11 also weighing in at obesity levels.

A 2012 study published in the journal MBC Public Health finds that Americans are now the world’s third-heaviest people, trailing only the Pacific Island countries of Tonga and Micronesia. The average U.S. adult is 33 pounds heavier than the average Frenchman and 70 pounds heavier than the average Bangladeshi citizen. To compile a ton of total mass, it would require only 12.2 Americans in a room versus 20 average citizens of Bangladesh.

A 2005 BMC Public Health study revealed that the world’s adult human beings make up 287 million tons of biomass, but if every country was as large as the U.S., Earth would be 58 million tons fatter.

Take a trip back to the 80's

Take a trip back to the 80's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg

If you are going to Bali and you want the best guide for your expedition, I highly recommend:

If you are going to Bali and you want the best guide for your expedition, I highly recommend:

http://gungbawatrekking.com/
http://gungbawatrekking.com

Some photos from our short trip to Bali.

Some photos from our short trip to Bali. Only 4 nights, but we managed to climb the Volcano Gunung Agung at night by the light of the full moon without needing headlamps. When the sun came up we were on the rim of the crater and had amazing views of the island.
We stayed near Ubud , our accommodation was surrounded by forest and rice fields. We never saw the beach!

One last view before we leave...

One last view before we leave...

http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/09/19/3851924.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/09/19/3851924.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/09/19/3851924.htm

Photos of the Telstra infrastructure between my home and the exchange.

Photos of the Telstra infrastructure between my home and the exchange.

Our ADSL is down again. Not really a surprise when you see the lousy Telstra infrastructure in the area.

Our ADSL is down again. Not really a surprise when you see the lousy Telstra  infrastructure in the area.




I'm particularly annoyed today because of the following things:

1: There were 2 guys with Tats and reflective vests in the pit at the end of the road yesterday, they even had a tent when it started raining.

2: Officially, according to Internode (my ISP) Telstra have no faults and are doing no work in the area.

3: The ADSL line completely lost sync and there is no longer a connection to exchange.

4: I suspect that this is what our line looks like and the reason why it is slow and unreliable.

5: Internode did not make me happy when I rang them today.

I was in the industry, I know Telstra have a monopoly, I know that Telstra wholesale sucks to deal with. But even so I'm at the point now where I am weighing up my options.

So my ADSL goes down. I'm a technical guy. Within 1 hour I have tried 4 different ADSL modems, and cables. I have even connected directly to the Telstra line at the boundry to eliminate the wiring within the house. I know that the line is dead, probably cut or unplugged at the exchange end. I know that if you are on Naked ADSL like I am you are considered the lowest priority by Telstra and they routinely move you to a crappier pair when one of their customers needs a good line for a crystal clear voice service. 
I wonder if I was accidentally disconnected by an incompetent Telstra technician or if the appalling cabling has failed or if this is a deliberate move by Telstra to assign me the worst line as another new Big Pong customer needs it.

I connect through my ever reliable but expensive Telstra LTE mobile connection and I can continue to work and access the internet. Unfortunately I forget that I have auto updating scheduled and not long afterwards I lose my internet when my phone runs out of credit because my computer downloaded a few hundred megabytes of data and exceeded my miserly included volume.
So I pay another $50 Telstra tax to get myself a few days internet, because I have no choice.

So I go to the Internode website and file an ADSL fault, their site shows no issues and I still have no sync. They can see that the ADSL went down and so I expect that my request together with the fault should spur them into action.

For the next day I use my expensive mobile bandwidth and I am able to maintain a connection to the internet but my home network is offline, my servers are not happy.

30 hours from the initial report of the issue to Internode I ring them, sure I got the automated reply but I want to know what is going on.

I get the queue but request a call back. 15 mins later I get called back, all good so far.

I tell them my ADSL is down and ask for an update, they ask for the case number and I give it to them. At this point they basically say that they have done nothing yet and generally don't for up to 3 days when you register a fault on-line. That's right folks, Internode don't want you to use their internet based support infrastructure, they want you to ring their switchboard before they will pay you any attention.

So now the guy I am talking to (who is trying to be helpful and friendly and who I have no issue with personally) tells me that he will runs some tests on my line.

He tells me he is not trained to interpret the results, but that he will forward them to a higher level support and then based on what they diagnose they will send the job to a 3rd party contractor. He is very clear that this 3rd party contractor will not be able to fix the problem, but that they will have a look and see if they can identify the cause and if they can then they will escalate the issue to Telstra to fix.

But he says, before I can do this I need you to agree to the terms. The Terms are that if they escalate this to the 3rd party provider and they can't find the fault or the fault has rectified itself by then they will charge $200 for the service. Once the  call-out is scheduled if I cancel or change it I will be charged roughly $70 (I forget the exact amount).

 So I am a bit shocked, they want me to wait for up to a week for some 3rd partly to look at the line and then wait another week for Telstra to fix it after that. WTF? 

I have trouble agreeing, partly I feel bad for the guy on the other end of the line, because he is just doing his job. But I am thinking, If I say yes and then they make an appointment for 4 days and then the bastards who were in the pit yesterday come back tomorrow and fix the issue they are going to want to charge me $200 as when random tech dude come out the issue will have been fixed.

In the end I agree, not because I think It will result in a speedy resolution, or because I like the system, but because It is clear that if I don't agree they won't do anything at all about my ADSL being down. I am welcome to pay for it but it won't be there.

You can get Telstra Business ADSL 300GB a month for $80 now. They have an SLA and they put you on a good line. If there is an issue a real Telstra tech will be right on it. No more second class service. I spend a long time on the Telstra site thinking. Part of me thinks that this is the only way to get any assurance of reliability.
But part of me hates this idea, the reason we have all the issues in the first place is because Telstra have a monopoly.

I'm going to give Internode one last chance to resolve this quickly and not make me feel like my only option is to deal directly with Telstra.

I wish I was optimistic about the outcome.

Oh and I'm so happy that the government is spending billions rolling out fibre to the home. (Heavy Sarcasm) We have a population of over 23 Million people here and after  5 years the NBN Fibre is currently being used by 230,000 people. NBN co are currently forecasting a roll-out cost of 50 Billion dollars and of course that is only to serve about 50% of the population. I seriously doubt I will have the option of a fibre connection to my home in the next 10 years. Oh but I can wait and pay my taxes.

Sword swallowing gone wrong.

Sword swallowing gone wrong.

Chapel of Bones. Evora. Portugal

Chapel of Bones. Evora. Portugal

First 2 flights on Brussels airlines.

First 2 flights on Brussels airlines. First on an Airbus a320 then on a dash 8. Booked for us by air France after they canceled our flight due to the air traffic controllers strike.
I was pleasantly surprised.

So that is what dieback looks like.

So that is what dieback looks like.

Ever wondered why your ADSL is slow and unreliable?

Ever wondered why your ADSL is slow and unreliable?

How does Telstra consider this acceptable?

Farcry4 == Farcry3 + helicopter + elephant

Farcry4 == Farcry3 + helicopter + elephant

Also many bugs. Hang-glider inside mountain wft?