Richard's stuff 09 10 2002

Wed, 09 Oct 2002

APT, Mp3 and DVD Playback ... the easy way to view your DVDs on your home computer.

Burnout 2... review snippets:

Forget everything you know. Whether you liked Burnout or not, it matters not. The simple fact of the matter is that its sequel will change your perceptions of the driving game genre, and the capabilities of the PlayStation 2.

.. and then the bit that sold me :)

From the minute you first boot up Burnout 2 it has you smiling. As you progress through the 'anti GT' Offensive Driving 101 tutorial (where you learn how best to drive badly?) the smile extends to a full-on cheesy grin as you realise just how stupendously fast the game engine is, and by the time you're charging into streams of head on traffic you're screaming like a cheerleader having her first orgasm.

The reviewer is certainly enthusiastic about the game :)

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Awwwwwwwww

kitty!

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Inspection as Invasion

George Monbiot's article "Inspection as Invasion" gives a good summary of the repeated efforts by the US to prevent a peaceful resolution of the current problems with Iraq.

On July 4 this year, Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations, began negotiating with Iraq over the return of UN weapons inspectors. Iraq had resisted UN inspections for three and a half years, but now it felt the screw turning, and appeared to be on the point of capitulation. On July 5, the Pentagon leaked its war plan to the New York Times. The US, a Pentagon official revealed, was preparing "a major air campaign and land invasion" to "topple President Saddam Hussein". The talks immediately collapsed.

Via the same site, Robert Scheer writes "Truth on Iraq Seeps Through" about a report released by the CIA late last week.

So what we have here is our top intelligence agency endorsing the past success of a peaceful, enforceable disarmament technique that our allies and the United Nations support, while our president and his Cabinet repeatedly belittle it as a sham.

(both via Common Dreams)

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Roundup presentation last night

Oh yeah, the Roundup presentation I gave last night to a bunch of System Admins (SAGE-AU, Vic branch) went really well. I ended up talking pretty much to time, even though I hadn't a) rehearsed, or b) looked at a clock once during the presentation :)

Didn't bore anyone to sleep, and they were interested enough to ask some good questions during and after the presentation.

Pretty happy with the whole thing :)

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Melbourne, 2030

The state government has released its plan for Melbourne in 2030 (the linked information site is a bit over-designed, but has lots of information fairly well laid out). It's the culmination of two years of planning and public consultation. It's got a lot of good stuff there - plans for slowing the sprawl, increasing public transport usage (neat map) from the current dismal 9% to at least 20%, encouraging greener practices ...

I'm fairly excited by the thing, actually. Let's see if it can get the funding it needs...

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