stuart test blog

Remember when we were poor? No. Me neither.

Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates

MIT’s D “double bubble” series design concept is based on a modified “tube-and-wing” structure that has a very wide fuselage to provide extra lift. The aircraft would be used for domestic flights to carry 180 passengers in a coach cabin roomier than that of a Boeing 737-800.
Image: MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull – May 1st and 2nd, 2010 (by Sean Stiegemeier)

So I saw all of these mediocre pictures of that volcano in Iceland nobody can pronounce the name of, so I figured I should go and do better. But the flights to get over took forever as expected (somewhat). 4 days after leaving I finally made it, but the weather was terrible for another 4. Just before leaving it got pretty good for about a day and a half and this is what I managed to get.

Link: Australian Wikileak founder’s passport confiscated

This is probably the most sensationalist story I’ve read in a long time:

Julian Assange, the Australian founder of the whistleblower website Wikileaks, says he had his passport taken away from him at Melbourne Airport and was later told by customs officials that it was about to be cancelled.

Hmmm… seems to imply they cancelled his passport because of his connection to the Wikileaks website.

Last year Wikileaks published a confidential Australian blacklist of websites to be banned under the government’s proposed internet filter.

I wonder if there’s any other reason why they would take his passport from him?

Assange told The Age his passport was taken from him by customs officials at Melbourne Airport when he entered the country last week after he was told ”it was looking worn”.

Ah – maybe because it was looking worn?

Passports are routinely taken from travellers for short periods by immigration officials if they are damaged.

So he had a worn passport? That sounds like a valid reason, is there anything else we need to know about this story?

Assange said half an hour after his passport was returned to him, he was approached by an Australian Federal Police officer who searched one of his bags and asked him about his criminal record relating to computer hacking offences in 1991.

So he was travelling with a worn passport and has a criminal record? Those seem like valid enough reasons to receive a bit of extra attention at the border. Is there more to this story? Maybe, but this article doesn’t show it.

Prime Minister John Key is urging Kiwis not to be jealous if the rich get more from Thursday’s Budget tax package – because the rich are crucial to the economy.

Budget gifts for the rich – politics – national | Stuff.co.nz

xkcd: The Tell-Tale Beat

CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 Help Cheat Sheets (PDF) – Smashing Magazine

If you aren’t sure what we are missing out on in NZ here’s a list of some important user features that came in 2.0 or 2.1…

The features Kiwis miss out on with Android 1.6

At least 65,000 mobile phones powered by Google’s Android operating system are being shipped every day, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said Thursday.

AFP: 65,000 Android phones shipping every day: Google

Look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.

Quote from Warren Buffet, via The Big Game, Zuckerberg and Overplaying your Hand