Geoverse

LyX, see here, is something I have been looking for a long time as a tool which uses LaTeX. It’s a ‘What You See Is What You Mean’ word processor. Unlike other LaTeX applications, this one gives you feedback what your document will look like as you type without bothering about the aestetics too much as in MS Word. Equations are inserted as you see them instead of code on one line. Tables and figures are also easily added as floaters which means after the document is processed in LaTeX, it they will be intelligently positioned. LyX also supports BibTex. It’s easy as without having to learn any code. Why would I bother spending and wasting time learning code and typing it when visually it goes so much faster and easier? LyX just got updated to version 1.5 beta 3 so have a go at it. You’ll love it! The only downside is that despite it can import and export your docs as TeX files, it doesnt port well to MS Word. So file sharing is a bit more cumbersome. But since artices can be submitted to journals as LaTeX files, this is a minor problem. I’m still in the stage of getting familiar with it but I can see already that it will save me lots of time later on when I just cant be bothered with the hassles you get in MS Word with inserting figures, captioning and formatting.

EDIT: I found a decent programme that will convert *.tex files to rich text formatting (*.rtf) for MS Word. Go here to download it (open sourceware).

Tis was another ordinary day using windows vista when suddenly vista
decides I should reactivate it. Fine i thought it’s a genuine copy
anyway. I restart the pc and whadda ya know? Windows is no longer
genuine. It still shows up as activated but I cant get past any
validation and online vista appears as unvalidated. WTF!?! I spend the
better part of my evening talking to HP in finding a way to sort out
this mess. No luck! They little know what has caused it. That extra
module of RAM? New drivers? Incompatible software? After trying a few
things I am still left with an apparently illegal version of windows
Vista with windows genuine advantage notifications all over the screen.
I finally decide to reinstall Vista. When that was finally done, there
is a problem with activation. The product has already been activated on
another computer?? There is no such thing! This is a special upgrade
for my HP dv9055ea notebook only! So I use the option to activate
windows by phone and I call Microsoft, Australia. After working through
the bots, I finally get a person on the phone. Thankfully not too many
questions asked and I get my new activation ID and I finally
successfully reactivated Windows Vista. Sheeesh! If this happens one
more time I’m going to ditch Windows forever. The world of linux
suddenly seems much more attractive now…

Here is a list of some of the Australian English expressions you might come across if you happen to visit Australia.

Arvo – Afternoon
Barbie – barbecue
Bikies – motorcyclists
Bloke – man
Bludger – lazy person
Booze bus – police van used for random breath testing for alcohol
Bush – countryside
BYO – bring your own
Bikkies – Biscuits
Chuck a U-ey – 180 degree turn
Crook – ill, badly made, substandard
Cut lunch – sandwiches
Deli – Delicatessen shop
Dinkum – honest
Drongo – worthless person
Esky – large insulating box for keeping things cold
G’day – Good day
Good on ya – Well done
Grog – General term for alcoholic drinks
Hoon – idiot
Lark – a scheme
Mate – general term for familiarity
Mozzie – mosquito
No worries – it’s OK
Ocker – an uncultivated or boorish Australian
Out in the sticks, boondocks – Out there in the bush
Pissed – drunk
Pom, pommy – English person (POME = prisoner of mother England)
Postie – mail deliverer
Ratbag – friendly term of abuse
Reckon! – you bet! Absolutely!
Root – to have sexual intercourse
Rooted, knackered – tired
She’ll be right – no worries
Shotgun! – Gives you right to the front seat in the car
Stubby – small beer bottle or shorts
Tinny – can of beer
Too right! – Absolutely
Trucky – truck driver
Wag – to skip school or work
Wog – Someone from Southern European descent. Can be offensive!
Wowser – spoilsport, puritan

Last weekend I went for a two day Bush walk in Tidbinbilla national park. Unfortunately I didnt have my camera then and i’m waiting for some one else who did have a very good camera to send me the pics. Once I’ll have them I’ll write a story about that adventure.

This weekend I’ve been sleeping, hanging around the house but this Sunday afternoon I thought i’d do something interesting so I took my bike and rode to Mount Ainslie. With my camera at the ready i took plenty of pics. See the gallery here. I first rode up mount Ainslie which was a tough job over firetrails and loose rocks. I did finally manage my way up to the top of 888m high. The view is incredible from the top as you can see in the photos. Pretty much whole Canberra is visible with the parliament house and Civic as the central business district where the flats are. The Uni is behind those flats. I rode down over single tracks which was awesome but shortlived as the mountain aint that high. Back in the city I was really close to the war memorial so that’s where I headed next. You can see the dome structure of the war memorial and on the inside there is a pond with ever burning fire dedicated to those soldiers that died in WW1 and WW2. On either side plaques are put on the wall with flowers containing all the names of the fallen soldiers (mostly Australian and New Zealanders, hence ANZAC). The museum inside was incredible. Whole aircraft are located inside, a submarine, tanks and artillery from WW1 but mostly WW2, including a bomber that was used to bomb Berlin. I didnt get to see everything because it was 17:00 already and the museum closed. This means I’ll have to come back. The part on the Gallipoli landing of the ANZAC troops was particularly interesting because it was one of Churchill’s biggest mistakes. Basically there were too many Turkish troops and the terrain was very unforgiving. After the museum closed I rode back home.

Go here to see all the various bird species you can find here. I got most of the main ones. Lots of parrot species. The one with the bright red breast is called a crimson rosella which is pictured on the Arnott’s bisquits boxes and tim tams. The white – black bird is a magpie.