Best Divorce Letter

I think the letter says it all :P

forgetfoo. — Best Divorce Letter  

Castle Hill Comp Results

The Castle Hill Comp Results were published earlier this week, and two of the three beers I entered got some cred.

Strong Ale
Third Darren Robinson American Barley wine

Belgian and French Ale
First Darren Robinson Witbier

Very happy with both, and very proud of the Hill Brewers Group that were able to pull the comp off, especially with all the sponsors they got on board.

Looking forward to the prizes arriving now.

AABC 2006 Results

The Australian Amateur Brewing Champs were held in Melb last weekend, and one of my two qualifiers from the NSW comp took 3rd in the Belgian/French category. I'm pretty stoked.
I qualified with a Belgian Dubbel, but the keg was empty when entries for the AABC were required, so as allowed under the rules I could enter another beer in the same category.

12. BELGIAN & FRENCH SPECIALTY CATEGORY - AABC 2006
(Sponsor: Grain & Grape)
1st Samuel Stacey SA 127.5 Tripel Wy 3787 1082 1006
2nd Robin Brown NSW 124.5 Belgian Wit Wy 3942 1046 1010
3rd Darren Robinson NSW Hills Brewers Guild 111 Belgian Wit WLP400 1048 1005

AB's smash the frogs

All Blacks boss Graham Henry has called yesterday's 47-3 demolishing of France one of the best wins he has been involved in.

Damm straight. I got up early on a Sunday to watch the game, and was most impressed with the win over one of the AB's hoodoo teams. I still recall the 1999 World Cup holed up in a Singapore hotel with no one to call as the AB's were off their game.

Just hope they aren't peaking to early for the RWC in 2007 (in France).

Just for the record; All Blacks 47 vs France 3

New Zealand All Blacks rugby team official website, New Zealand Rugby Football Union

Beer Ad Banned

Shepherd Neame have a history of humorous advertising campaigns, but have gone too far this time. This one was banned. Surprise, surprise, surprise.Shepherd Neame said it had a tradition of humorous campaigns

Outrage over Bishop's Finger. A beer advert that proclaimed "I love a good session on the Bishops Finger" has been banned.The advert for the Kentish ale in Time Out magazine, pictured a woman in a low-cut medieval costume sitting on a bale of hay.

Agenda Inc. Live Feed

BMW Hard Top Cabriolet

As a BMW driver for many years now, I've always loved the idea of having a convertible, but hated the part of having the cloth/canvas top, exspecially in a city like Sydney.
Enter the 2007 3 series cabriolet. Hard top convertible. Awsome, and I believe the twin turbo model is coming to Australia too. Now to save those pennies.

Photo galleries | MSN Cars UK

2006 NSW State Brewing Comp

Managed to pickup a couple of places in the NSW State Brewing Comp at the weekend. The Dubbel has done well for me also placing in the Bathurst Comp recently. The American Barleywine is actually the Imperial Pilsner the Hill Brewers Guild brewed at my place a few months back.

G. STRONG ALE

1 Old Ale 121.5 Les Wever Medowie
2 English Barleywine 112.5 Sam Parkhouse Kellyville
3 American Barleywine 101 Darren Robinson Cherrybrook

J. BELGIAN & FRENCH ALE

1 Berliner Weisse 105.5 Les Wever Medowie
2 Belgian Dubbel 103.5 Darren Robinson Cherrybrook
3 Witbier 100 Peter Symons Oatley

Alternative anti-depressant

Don't really know what commentary to add to this one :P

Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't.
The study, which is bound to provoke controversy, showed that the women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed.
The researchers think this is because mood-altering hormones in semen are absorbed through the vagina. They say they have ruled out other explanations."I want to make it clear that we are not advocating that people abstain from using condoms," says Gordon Gallup, the psychologist at the State University of New York who led the team.

"Suicide attempts
His team divided 293 female students into groups depending on how often their partners wore condoms, and assessed their happiness using the Beck Depression Inventory, a standard questionnaire for assessing mood. People who score over 17 are considered moderately depressed.The team found that women whose partners never used condoms scored 8 on average, those who sometimes used them scored 10.5, those who usually used them scored 15 and those who always used them scored 11.3. Women who weren't having sex at all scored 13.5.What's more, the longer the interval since they last had sex, the more depressed the women who never or sometimes used condoms got. But the time since the last sexual encounter made no difference to the mood of women who usually or always used condoms.

Nutraceuticals,Supplements for emotional health,depression,aging(antioxidants,minerals,vitamins,nutrition

Beer Chips

They sound great. Unlikely we'll seem them in Australia though :(

Kettle Chips launches mature cheddar with Adnams Broadside flavour

Beer and crisps are a match made in heaven, but Kettle Foods is treading bold new ground with its new beer flavoured crisp.

Kettle Chips mature cheddar with Adnams Broadside flavour combines two pub staples the Southwold brewer's beer with a strong ploughman's cheese.

Kettle Foods marketing director Peter Wilson said: "To our knowledge, this is the UK's first ever real beer-flavoured chip. As such, it will appeal to all lovers of good English ale.

"We couldn't use just any old beer; we had to use the award-winning Broadside from our friendly neighbours at Adnams in Southwold - just a short trip from Kettle's home in Norwich."

http://www.kettlefoods.co.uk/site/WebSiteProducts.do?id=501.54.613&range=1&detailId=2028

Beam me to work Scotty

Apart from the fact that I live more than half a meter from work and am a carbon based life form, beaming to work would be sooo cool. I'm sure some people would still be late for work though :-) I'm sure they will get there with this technology, probably the day after I retire in 30 years time.

LONDON (Reuters) - Beaming people in Star Trek fashion is still in the realms of science fiction but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter."It is one step further because for the first time it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage medium," Polzik explained in an interview on Wednesday.The experiment involved for the first time a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the information a distance of half a meter but believe it can be extended further.

Quantum information teleported from light to matter | Science&Health | Science | Reuters.co.uk

Church of Google

Is Google God; and is God a She ? My head hurst already this morning, so I can't think this one through.

We at the Church of Google believe a convincing argument can be made stating that the search engine Google is the closest mankind has ever come to directly experiencing an actual God (as typically defined). Supernatural gods are rejected on the notion they are inherently unprovable. Thus, Googlists believe Google should rightfully be given the title of "God", as She exhibits a great many of the characteristics traditionally associated with such Deities.Gods are typically defined by their unique attributes, such as being all-knowing, all-seeing, ever present, the ability to answer prayers, being immortal, remembering all, and of course Deities must "do no evil". Google exhibits all of these characteristics perfectly. In the absence of imaginary, supernatural beings, Google is certainly the closest thing humankind has to a true God.Googlists do not believe in the supernatural. We believe virtually all "gods" before Google were purely based on man made, fictional beings. We do not claim Google is supernatural in any way. She, like all other gods before Her, is the creation of man. No faith is required to believe in Her, for we consider the concept of belief without evidence (faith) to be of the utmost intellectual laziness.

The Church Of Google

iPod Wallet

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a good compromise to combine the wallet and iPod functions. A great little case for sure. Now if someone could do something similar for my 5th Generation 30Gb iPod, I'd be on it.

It holds your cards, your cash, and your iPod securely in a slim shell of aircraft grade aluminum. And, because it's RELO ready, you can slide your iPod into Knox while it is secure in the included Radura case. The cash and cards stay put with a specially designed clip. Rock out securely – play-through design means you can plug in while the Knox is closed to civilians.

Mophie

Monteiths Baltic Porter

Got home to a great surprise tonight. Two bottles of Monteith's Baltic Porter, nicely chilled in the fridge that were sent to me by a mate in NZ.

Limited Release details here
"Tasting Notes"
Monteith’s Baltic Porter is a soothing velvety Porter with a soft liquorice nose, adding a spicy lift to the rich malt base. There is a gentle barley note in the mouth that tends to sweetness at first then rounding out into a lovely dry malt biscuit finish. You will find no heavy chocolate or any grassy hop characters, just complex malt and spice with the merest, tempting touch of sherry contributing finesse.

This is a very smooth easy drinking 7% Porter.
Worth getting your hands on some if you can.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic have a computer generated representation of their space flight aircraft and experience up. Mesmerising just watching the video.
Virgin Galactic Video

RIP Cliff

Twenty years to the day since Cliff Burton (bass gutairist from Metallica) was tragically killed on tour in Europe.
Heard "To Live is to Die" on TripleJ last night, and it is still one of my fav's 20 years on.


When a Man Lies He Murders
Some Part of the World
These Are the Pale Deaths Which
Men Miscall Their Lives
All this I Cannot Bear
to Witness Any Longer
Cannot the Kingdom of Salvation
Take Me Home

Clifford Lee Burton
2-10-62........9-27-86

This will screwup Website Stats

Anonymous browsing based on a  modified verison of Portable Firefox. Running a few websites myself, the Stats are an important part. But anonymous browsers and proxies can really screw your data. I think the hidden agenda is it is more focused on users that have other intentions than just leaving a fingerprint.

A tweaked version of Firefox that makes Web browsing anonymous has been released by a group of privacy-minded coders. Every few minutes, the Torpark browser causes a computer's IP address to appear to change. IP addresses are numeric identifier given to computers on the Internet. The number can be used along with other data to potentially track down a user, as many Web sites keep track of IP addresses.

Tweaked Firefox Lets You Surf Internet Without a Trace - Yahoo! News

Bathurst Brewing Comp Trophies

The Bathurst Brewing Comp trophies arrived a couple of days back, and here they are in all their glory. Great plates for the 1st and 3rd places, and a wine set for the Exhibitor of Show that included a bottle of red, cork screw, wine pourer, wine stopper etc. A great little set. And of course the certificates.
A great well run comp. I don't know of any other brewing comp that is so fast to get judging sheets, awards and prizes out to entrants. A truely worthy comp.

Beer for Mum ?

I guess the beer in non-alcoholic, but even still. Very photoshop as well.

Cherryflava: Beer is yum for mum

Whobar

Anyone who knows me in my professional career will know that I have a keen interest and involvement in Identity Systems. So it was great to see the innovators over at SXIP make annoucements at DigitalID World about their Whobar initiative. God knows how many sets of logons I have for websites and forums. Looking forward to seeing this adopted for sure.

Who What? Whobar previewed at DIDW11 September, 2006 - 9:52pmSxip is demoing a preview of Whobar, new Identity 2.0 technology at Digital ID World and the Future of Web Apps this week.Currently under development, Whobar makes it easy for users to register and login to a website using their choice of emerging identity protocols such as InfoCard, i-names, and OpenID. We’re considering releasing it as an open source module for developers to easily add support of the emerging Identity 2.0 technologies to their site. The benefits of this for users would be a common website login experience and for web developers, to streamline their user registration and login process with Identity 2.0 technologies, while maintaining support for their existing user accounts.

Who What? Whobar previewed at DIDW | Sxip Identity

Most Successful Exhibitor of Show

The Bathurst Brewing Comp was run over the weekend, and I managed to pickup Most Successful Exhibitor of Show. My American Pale Ale got a first in the Australian/American Pale Ale category, and my Dubbel got third in the Belgian category.

Really looking forward to getting the judging sheets back to read the judging comments, but I'm pretty stoked.

Most Successful Exhibitor of Show
Sponsored by The Kelso Hotel, Kelso
Darren Robinson

Homebrew Beer: The Country Brewer - For All your Homebrew Beer Needs

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Bond drinks beer

So good to see from a beer lovers point of view. Even though Heineken isn't a personal favourite it will be nice to see beer in a James Bond movie.

Los Angeles- Forget the martini - give that man a beer. That could be the rallying cry in the upcoming James Bond movie Casino Royale, in which the suave British super-spy is set to drop his exclusive taste for martinis and instead take up some plebeian beer-swilling, according to the Hollywood Reporter Friday. Producers of the movie have even signed a six-figure deal with beer giant Heineken for a promotional partnership that will include a television commercial shot on the Bond set featuring Bond girl Eva Green and directed by Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan.Bond purists will be grateful to know that the beer plot is not just a money grab by the movie's makers. Casino Royale was the first Bond book written by Ian Fleming and the only one in which Bond drinks beer.

The Raw Story | Bond bows to beer

IE only sites in Firefox

I'm forever switching between IE and Firefox due to those sites that I have to run IE for. Well now I can embed IE in Firefox. This is sooo handy.

mozdev.org - ietab: index

Drinking Customs

From here.

Sounds like a great little exhibition. Will have to get out at lunchtime and check it out.

DRINKING CUSTOMS AN EXPLORATION OF PUB CULTURE AROUND SYDNEY

Wednesday 6 September, 2006 - 31 March, 2007
Level 1 Exhibition & Library Lounge
FREE ADMISSION

Curated by Dr Charles Pickett

The exhibition Drinking Customs presents the social history of drinking cultures and pubs in the surrounding area of Customs House and Circular Quay. The exhibition presents changes in the attitudes towards drinking and how it has been an important part of Australia's self image. This social history is presented through photographs, poster graphics and objects related to drinking.

Brewery Labels

My brewery labels finally arrived. Due to a stuff up I ended up getting big and small ones. The big ones are going on my gear (eg. kegs) and the little ones wherever my gorilla marketing takes me.

index.php (JPEG Image, 576x768 pixels)

Stone 10th Anniversary

Damm, where is my teletransporter ?
Sat 9 Sept is Stones 10th Anniversary

Checkout the 40 breweries that will be there including :
Russian River
Rouge
Pizza Port
Brewery Ommegang
Hoptown
Dogfish Head
Avery
Alpine
Alesmith
and of course Stone

Need I say more.

When Astronomers get angry

An amusing billboard, maybe by some angry astronomers.

pluto-astroid.jpg (JPEG Image, 699x509 pixels)

Hop based Antifoam

A couple of shots from brewing a RyeIPA that calls for First Wort Hopping (FWH), which is where hops are added to the kettle during the sparge and remain there for the entire sparge time plus boil. The problem is if you are maxing out the capacity of your kettle it usually incurrs a messy boilover and then loss of some of the FWH and some wort volume.

Here is a picture just before the boil is about to start with about 48 litres of wort in a 50 litre kettle.

I tossed in a Hop based Antifoam capsule as the heat was applied to bring to a boil.
A full boil, and no boilover. No mess, and no need to skim the protein foam, that would have resulted in a loss of FWH's.

A great product. I'll be using it whenever I'm doing a full volume boil.

Hop Monsters

My brewing has taken a turn for even more hoppyness this winter. My winter beers are always higher alcohol, and usually hoppier to provide some balance. A couple this winter have been off the chart in terms of bitterness, and I'm planning about another three before the heat of summer really arrives. This definition from Russian River (who make the most hoppy beers you could ever think of) is me exactly.

Russian River Brewing Company

LED's embedded in clothing

I can see the benefits for merchandising, but definitely wonder how cost probhibitive it is likely to be until the technology gets penetration.

Philips illuminates IFA 2006 with production-ready Lumalive textile garments

Eindhoven, the Netherlands - Philips Research intends to impress the visitors at this year’s IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) with a world-first demonstration of promotional jackets and furniture featuring its innovative Lumalive technology. Lumalive textiles make it possible to create fabrics that carry dynamic advertisements, graphics and constantly changing color surfaces. The Philips stand in Hall 22 will act as a showcase for the Lumalive textile products that will be worn by Philips’ hostesses and embedded into booth furniture of the Future Zone.



Lumalive fabrics feature flexible arrays of colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fully integrated into the fabric - without compromising the softness or flexibility of the cloth. These light emitting textiles make it possible to create materials that can carry dynamic messages, graphics or multicolored surfaces. Fabrics like drapes, cushions or sofa coverings become active when they illuminate in order to enhance the observer’s mood and positively influence his/her behavior.

Philips Research Press Releases - Philips illuminates IFA 2006 with production-ready Lumalive textile garments

Reliance on Ammenties

Bugger. I've been in on a brewday at Shed 22 Brewing Company and can feel for the guys having to dump a batch. That is going to screw up the production schedule. Hopefully some compensation from the gas company.

Building evacuated in NZ capital August 31, 2006 - 5:14PM A major gas leak caused chaos in New Zealand's capital, leaving at least one office block temporarily evacuated, streets closed, businesses shut down and thousands of litres of beer spoiled.Inner-city restaurants offered reduced menus of uncooked food, hotel guests had to forego showers and the boutique Wellington Brewery Company dumped 5,000 litres of spoiled beer.

Building evacuated in NZ capital - Breaking News - World - Breaking News

Ooops

She isn't going to live this one down.

CNN says sorry for taking on-air toilet break September 01, 2006
CNN was forced to apologise yesterday after television anchor Kyra Phillips took a toilet break but inadvertently left her personal microphone on - and broadcast live in excruciating detail her bathroom gossip session during a nationally televised speech by US President George W. Bush.

CNN says sorry for taking on-air toilet break | Media | The Australian

Where I'd rather be ....

The post lunch lull has hit me, and even though I have to finish preparing for an 8 hour workshop I'm running tomorrow, my mind is drifting to where I'd rather be.

I can narrow the list down to three bars:

• Mussel Inn, Onekaka, Golden Bay, New Zealand


• Rose Hotel, Chippendale, Sydney, NSW Australia


• Liars Club, San Diego, USA
  

The three bars all have in common a very laid back bohemian style atomosphere with great beer and food. I've spend many hours (and dollars) at each and if ever I was to start my own place the inspiration would come from these venues.

Alas, back to workshop preparation.

The Beer Factory

Last night the Hills Brewers Guild got a tour of the newly opened Beer Factory at Seven Hills in Sydney and I was really impressed.

It is a really great setup, lots of space, nice and clean, and great enthusiasm from the staff.

They had a couple of beers on tap that tasted very clean and refreshing also.

I really hope places like these prosper and serve to educate the community on what great beer can be brewed instead of being dictated to by major breweries and their advertising campaigns. The end result of this could be a micro-brewery explosion like on the West Coast of the US. Then we all benefit.

If you haven't brewed beer before, or have and failed, check these guys out. You won't be dissappointed.

It's This Easy

USB Air Missiles

Saw these in one of the Sunday papers today as a suggestion for father day. I know a couple of guys in my office that would love them.

You cubicle warriors out there can get pretty intense in your day-to-day work environments. This USB-powered launcher with three darts may be the perfect weapon to add to your arsenal. Using the included software, firing is just a mouse-click away. Unfortunately, yes, you still have to go pick them up after they're fired and there is a good chance all three darts will be lost quickly. Oh well, at least there won't be assault charges after you beat your cube neighbor with the ole' Swingline

USB Air Darts - Gizmodo

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You call that a knife ?

Will probably make using any of the tools a two handed job though.

Wenger, the company that makes the legendary Swiss Army Knives has introduced a 9-inch long, 2-pound "blade" which features every tool Swiss Army makes, 85 instruments in all. Check out this photo gallery to see them.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/photogallery/gallery/0,20036,1304110,00.html

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Time for a Mouse upgrade

When you work with computers all day, a good mouse is a must. My current mouse is a Microsoft Optical Notebook 4000 jobby with a programmable button as well as all the normal buttons including left and right scroll on the scroll wheel. Just checking these new Logitech ones out though, and if they work as well as they look, I think I'll be getting one on the next upgrade. Hope they have Linux drivers.

Logitech went back to the drawing board on the MX Revolution and VX Revolution mice, and here's what they came up with: the MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel, which enables force feedback application support. Basically the heavy-feeling alloy wheels (of which there are two on the MX, and one on the VX) can spin freely and smoothly for up to seven seconds with a flick of your finger, or lock into the regular ratcheted scrolling motion like most of us are used to, depending on usage (the VX requires a flipped switch to toggle between the modes), the application, and your system's settings. It's kinda one of those things you have to try for yourself to really appreciate (we got to play with one a few weeks back), but if you're already sold and don't have any problems with your mice once again having dozens of moving parts, the Revolution series will set you back $99 or $79, respectively.

Logitech's VX and MX Revolution mice - Engadget

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Apple recalls 1.8 million batteries

I hope you have learned from your mistake Sony.

Sony confirmed that Apple's batteries are using the same faulty battery cells that were used in Dell's batteries. Different notebook makers use slightly different configurations of battery cells and battery packs, but both Dell and Apple used the same basic cell that can be prone to short circuits in rare cases, said Rick Clancy, a Sony spokesman.Fortunately for Sony, the company believes that it is done replacing bad battery cells. "We're anticipating no further recalls of battery packs using these particular cells," Clancy said.

Apple recalls 1.8 million batteries | CNET News.com

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Bomb or Penis Pump ?

One word. DUMBASS.

CHICAGO -- Mardin Azad Amin found himself in a tight squeeze last week when security at O'Hare Airport discovered a suspicious-looking object in his luggage.So Amin, 29, handled the delicate situation this way: He told security the object was a bomb, Cook County prosecutors said.The security guard then asked Amin to repeat what he'd said to a supervisor. This time, Amin was chuckling as he spoke, prosecutors said.In fact, Amin was trying to disguise the fact that the black object -- resembling a grenade -- was a component for a penis pump.

NBC5.com - Travel Getaways - Sex Toy In Luggage Gets Man In Trouble

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Would you like a beer officer ?

Great execution on having beer avail for those tailgate parties.

Looks like he hasn't solved the problem of keg agitation during transport though.

Nice Car - AussieHomeBrewer.com

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Metallica make it to the Simpsons

Not sure when we'll see this episode in Australia, and it's hard to believe it has taken so long for them to get on the show.

Metallica's cameo appearance on The Simpsons will air in the season premiere on September 10, 2006 on your local FOX station. (please check locallistings for channel and showtime in your area. And as always,schedules are subject to change).

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Now that's a bridge

The Millau viaduct is part of the new E11 expressway connecting Paris and Barcelona and the overall height will be an impressive 336 meters, making this the highest bridge in the world.

briage.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024x525 pixels)

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Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup Champs.... again

Whos got a full cabinet of silverware ? We do. All Blacks at the top of the game a year out from the next Rugby World Cup. With Henry at the helm I'm really hoping they don't implode in France next year, after winning everything else on offer this year.

Go the AB's.

FOX SPORTS | Sports news Australia | Australian sports

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Pre-built MythTV Box

Interesting to see the availability of pre-built MythTV boxes appearing in the US. I've recently put MythTV on an old workstation at home and hooked it up with a TV Tuner. It is working but could benefit from some faster hardware. This would be a great solution for non-IT style people. I'm sure someone will be offering it in Australia, if their isn't already.

If MythTV's promise of a free Windows Media Center alternative sounds exciting, but you can't quite bring yourself to navigate the trials of a Linux install on your own, then you might be interested in Monolith's pre-built Media Center PCs, which come with MythTV pre-installed on top of Ubuntu Linux. Models start at $650, and include a remote, an IRBlaster, and free electronic programming guide access -- none of those silly TiVo-style monthly fees.

Monolith Media Center brings MythTV to the technophobe - Engadget

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All Blacks vs Wallabies TV Coverage

TV Guide - Yahoo!7

Why the hell is the game only being shown live on Channel 7. Why do I have to sit through the endless babble of the commentators on Channel 7 also knowing they will be filling any injury break, or pause after a try or before a penalty with bloody ads !!!! ?

I want my footy on Foxtel, with the easy listening commentary of the Foxtel Rugby team, rather than all the bloody useless background facts you get on channel 7. Maybe if Roy & HG could commentate on Rugby Union, I could have the channel 7 picture, with Roy & HG commentating.

On the upside, I'll be drinking some great beer, and should still get to see an All Blacks win.

Doc

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Aidan's Birthday

Aidan's birthday is just over two weeks away, and with a number of other commitments the birthday brew has not been completed.
So this Saturday is brewday for Aidan's Irish Red.

I've been messing around with Beer Tools Pro to import my Promash recipe file. Because Promash splits the brew into the recipe and the brew session, I had to do a couple of things in Beer Tools Pro to make the analysis accurately reflect the brew. I had to;

• Increase the Final volume to the kettle volume
• Select Lock
• Increase the Kettle volume to be the pre-boil volume

In order to also have this on tap in time I'm going to use a 0.5micron carbonation stone to carbonate the keg. Without having to shake the shit out of the keg to get it to uptake the CO2 let alone lifting the keg in and out of the serving freezer, this means I'll have it carbonated in less than a day ready for his birthday for all the family.

A well and truely tested brew, this one never dissappoints.

Desktop Graphics

I've been running SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and OpenSUSE 10.1 in demo modes on and off for the last month or so with a view to switching to Linux and SLED10 in the next month. Obviously in my day to day work role there are a number of things that I will need a Windows environment for. So I've tested SUSE with XEN, Parallels and VMWare to see which will work best for me, and it is looking like VMWare will be the one to run XP in for those tasks that are just M$ based. With XGL though I'll be running the XP VM in a dedicated workspace and only switch to it as required. If you haven't seen XGL then check out the link after the blurb below. It rocks.

Linux XGL/Compiz Graphics to Apple Aqua & Vista Aero: EAT ME!I
Couldn't help being a little over the top on this one. Just watch the attached videos.
Wikipedia excerpt on XGL: "Xgl is an X server architecture, started by David Reveman, layered on top of OpenGL via glitz. It takes advantage of modern graphics cards via their OpenGL drivers, supporting hardware acceleration of all X, OpenGL and XVideo applications and graphical effects by a compositing window manager such as Compiz."openSUSE excerpt on Compiz: "Compiz brings to life a variety of visual effects that make the Linux desktop easier to use, more powerful and intuitive, and more accessible for users with special needs. Compiz combines together a window manager and a composite manager using OpenGL for rendering. A 'window manager' allows the manipulation of the multiple applications and dialog windows that are presented on the screen. A 'composite manager' allows windows and other graphics to be combined together to create composite images. Compiz achieves its stunning effects by doing both of these functions."Linux XGL/CompizApple Aqua Featuring SpacesApple Demo: Mac OS X ExposéWindows Vista AeroAttached Images

eHomeUpgrade Forums - Linux XGL/Compiz Graphics to Apple Aqua & Vista Aero: EAT ME!

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Dell recall 4.1million notebook batteries

Even though Dell is the vendor, Sony is the manufacturer. This must really cap of a crappy year for Sony. Remember the Sony 'rootkit' cd protection saga. Will the Playstation3 save them ?

 

Dell and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission plan to recall 4.1 million notebook batteries on Tuesday, a company representative confirmed Monday.The recall affects certain Inspiron, Latitude and Precision mobile workstations and XPS units shipped between April 2004 and July 18, 2006. Sony manufactured the batteries that are being recalled, the representative said. Click here to see photos of recalled batteries.

Dell to recall 4 million batteries | CNET News.com

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Mammoths roam the earth again ?

Would be cool to see them living. However only in zoo's although I'm getting a Jurasic Park flash back.

Mammoths may roam again after 27,000 yearsBy Mark Henderson, Science EditorBODIES of extinct Ice Age mammals, such as woolly mammoths, that have been frozen in permafrost for thousands of years may contain viable sperm that could be used to bring them back from the dead, scientists said yesterday.Research has indicated that mammalian sperm can survive being frozen for much longer than was previously thought, suggesting that it could potentially be recovered from species that have died out.Several well-preserved mammoth carcasses have been found in the permafrost of Siberia, and scientists estimate that there could be millions more.

Mammoths may roam again after 27,000 years - Britain - Times Online

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Hopheads, literally

From a blog entry ( Whomp Power ) on the Oregon Brewers Festival, this picture of some real hop heads.

I have the shirt, so looks like now I need the hat. Although I can't really see me wearing it.

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Beer Can Chicken

BeerCanChicken.jpg,
originally uploaded by DoctorsOrders.

At the recent Hills Brewers Guild Imperial Pilsner brewday at my place we did a Beer Can Chicken.
The chicken was impregnated with marinade as well as steamed with Kilkenny. It was awesome.
The recipe can be found here http://www.foodtv.ca/recipes/recipedetails.aspx?dishid=5377

Oregon Brewers Fest

After listening to many beer related podcasts reviewing trips to the Oregon Brewers Festival, I made my way over to their website to check it out. Oregon Brewers Festival What a list of breweries and brews present.

Some that I'd love to try are:

21st Amendment Brewery

Watermelon Wheat

Butte Creek Brewing Co

Organic Revolution X

Jack Russell Brewing Co

Saison

Water Street Brewing and Ale House

Big Phatty Imperial Red

Will have to time one of my trips to the US to coincide with one of these festivals.

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Sony Mylo

Looking very similar to the iMate mobile the new Sony Mylo seems to have most of the features for a little handheld. If only it had a phone in it though.

Sony announced today its first WiFi broadband communication and entertainment device. The new mylo™ personal communicator works in any open 802.11b wireless network and lets you use instant messaging, browse the Internet, listen to music, send emails and view photos concurrently. The name mylo stands for “my life online”.The mylo features a 2.4 inch color LCD screen with a slide out QWERTY keyboard for comfortable and quick thumb typing.The device, available in black or white, comes embedded with the Google Talk instant messaging service, Skype and Yahoo! Messenger. Sony highlights that these services are free and the mylo does not require initial setup or a monthly service contract.

Sony Announces the Mylo Personal Communicator - Xbox

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Beerfest the movie

Another spoof comedy from the Broken Lizard team.

I don't get to the movies all that often these days, but I imagine it will be on DVD pretty quick and I can enjoy it after having a few cold ones to get me in the right frame of mind.

Moive website

When American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse travel to Germany to spread their grandfather’s ashes at Oktoberfest, they stumble upon a super-secret, centuries old, underground beer games competition—“Beerfest,” the secret Olympics of beer drinking.The brothers receive a less than warm welcome from their German cousins, the Von Wolfhausens, who humiliate Todd and Jan, slander their relatives, and finally cast them out of the event. Vowing to return in a year to defend their country and their family’s honor, The Wolfhouse boys assemble a ragtag dream team of beer drinkers and gamers: Barry Badrinath, the consummate skills player with a dark past; Phil Krundle (AKA Landfill), a one-man chugging machine; and Steve “Fink” Finklestein, the lab tech with a PhD in All Things Beer.This Magnificent Five train relentlessly, using their hearts, minds and livers to drink faster, smarter and harder than they ever have before. But first they must battle their own demons... as well as a bunch of big, blond, German jerks who want to destroy the team before they can even make it back to Munich.Revenge, like beer, is best served cold.

BEERFEST Movie Synopsis

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The joy of modern web design

Microsoft IE7 is due for release in the next few months. Will this solve web development problems associated with browser compatability. From the info here Web Browser Standards Support Summary it doesn't look like it will. And Microsoft wonder why people don't like their presense on the web.

CSS 2.1 Compliance by browser

IE 6	IE 7	Firefox 1.5	Opera 8.5	Opera 9

51%

55%

93%

93%

96%

technorati tags:ie7, web, standards, css2.1

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No more beer in your hand luggage

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government heightened security on passenger planes and barred air travellers from carrying liquids on Thursday after Britain said it foiled a plot to blow up flights to the United States.

Hand luggage on flights banned in the UK and the US. I'm sure it is only a matter of time before it happens here too.
It is really dissappointing that a bunch of terrorists can really screw with our ability to enjoy life and have the liberties of being able to bring back our favourite beverages from overseas in our hand luggage amongst other things.

No More Beer In Your Hand Luggage ? - AussieHomeBrewer.com

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More fuel please

This is one awesome beer font. Gives a new angle on beer engine.
I used to dream of having a Moto Guzzi/Ducati, and more that likely this would be as close as I'd get if I was to find an old block.

Full Flickr link

Over Regulation gone mad

Panel forces Lion to sober up Tooheys spot - Business - Business - smh.com.au

LION Nathan has been forced to make "extensive and expensive" amendments to its big budget Tooheys New advertising campaign after it fell foul of alcohol advertising codes.

....

Lion was unlucky with the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code, in spite of the ads being approved    at a pre-vetting stage. The panel was forced to consider the ad after just two complaints from consumers.

Two complaints. TWO COMPLAINTS. FFS what is the country coming to. A coupld of old biddys not getting the context of the ad, complaining. Complaining; fine. Complaining and making them change the ad is just a joke.

Lion was unlucky with the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code, in spite of the ads being approved at a pre-vetting stage. The panel was forced to consider the ad after just two complaints from consumers.

It is an ad. A commercial. Hell if all commericals had to be a reflection on reality, tv would be boring as batshit.

technorati tags:tooheys, beer, commercial, regulation

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Australian Rugby in disarray on and off the field

From the latest RugbyNews newsletter comes this insight into the ARU. Explains a lot really doesn't it.

Doc (an All Blacks supporter)

AUSTRALIAN RUGBY OFFICE HICCUP

Word from within the Australian Rugby Union office is that the impending major office move has been a major bungle. Whilst the ink was drying on the new lease they are believed to have lost sight of their expiring lease and what transpired has amounted to an inconvenient and costly double shuffle. They would have been homeless if not for the contacts of CEO Gary Flowers.

They are packing up and moving to an address associated with Flowers' former employer only to repack and move again in a matter of weeks. Insiders who spoke to NZ Rugby News saw the humour in the lease hiccup and are pleased they are not picking up the cost although voicing angst at the inconvenience. A Sydney journalist has used the term Fort Fumble when referring to ARU administrative activity.

It appears the onfield performance last Saturday in many ways is reflected in the off field bungles within Fort Fumble.

Real Ale

A couple of weeks ago, I had the Hills Brewers Guild over for an All Grain brewday. We brewed an Imperial Pilsner.

One of the highlights of the day though was my British Beer Engine. Duff an HBG member bought over a keg of Timothy Taylor Landlord bitter, and HBG were more than willing to empty its contents via the Beer Engine. It was a top drop.
Checkout the rest of the pics of the Beer Engine in service by following the link over to Flickr.

Beers,
Doc

Hills Brewers Guild - Imp Pils Brewday - TimothyTaylorLandlord on the BeerEngine 009.jpg on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Oh to be in San Francisco this weekend

The Bistro in Hayward, San Francisco is having their IPA Festival this weekend. After hearing Vic talkabout it on The Brewing Network this week, I really wish I was there for it.

Our 9th Annual IPA Festival is on the books for Saturday August 12, 2006. 50 + India Pale Ales on tap.

Events

Doc

technorati tags:IPA, Festival, Sanfrancisco, TBN, Brewing, Network

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Mac OSX Leopard, Hasta la vista, Vista

Must be a great time to work in the marketing department at Apple. Also from the WWDC.

Doc

Flickr Photo Download: hasta la vista, vista

technorati tags:wwdc, Apple, Mac, OSX, Windows, Microsoft, Vista

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Mac OSX Leopard is Vista 2.0

From the Apple WWDC a banner introducing OSX Leopard, the next Mac OS release as Vista 2.0. Tongue in cheek; yes. On the money; probably.

Doc

Flickr Photo Download: Introducing Vista 2.0

technorati tags:vista, leopard, osx, apple, windows, microsoft

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Beer Tools Pro

Beertools are currently in public beta for their standalone version of BeerTools.

I've been testing it out over the last week and am quite enjoying the interface after using Promash for the last five years.
I've really been getting into Imperial IPA's in the last few years, and my 200th brew is coming up fast, so I'm planning an Triple IPA. The graphic is the intial planning for the recipe for the Triple IPA (Infinity +1).

Beers,
Doc

What is on tap

On Tap: Abbey's Dubbel 8.15%, Doc's Alt #2 6.1%, Doc's Kolsch #1 5.7%, Doc's Ordinary Bitter 4.3%
On Deck: Doc's RauchDunkelHefeRyeizenBock Cream Ale #1 6.66%, Doc's Hop Whompus #1 & #2 7.7%, Doc's Evil Twin #1 7.7%
Fermenting: Doc's Porter, Doc's RauchDunkelHefeRyeizenBock Cream Ale #2, Doc's Evil Twin #1, Hills Brewers Guild Imperial Pilsner
Keg I'm trying to knock off: Xmas Case in July Beers
Planned Brews: Aidans Irish Red, Hopsickel/Hop-Opocaylpse/Hop-notic/Hop Tonic

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog.
I never thought I would have a public blog, however I need an outlet, and why not make it public.
I will be posting my thoughts, whinges and observations on IT, and craftbrewing as these are the two interests I'm willing to share publically.
So after a day of trying to get multimedia working properly on (SLED10) Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, I'm sipping on my Imperial IPA (Evil Twin) 7.7% beer while making my virgin public blog post.

Beers,
Doc