Arc Tangent

@klepas and I put together a podcast. It’s going to be a bi-weekly sort of affair (or whenever we feel like it). I should note, first up, that the audio quality is pretty terrible. It was a first shot and not one of the three recording devices we used were really up to scratch – we’ll definitely have that fixed before next time!

In this episode, we discuss:

1. Recent events in the world of web fonts (proposals to bring more fonts to the web, and the advent of TypeKit)
2. The pronunciation of Opera (Oh-pear-uh? Op-er-rah?)
3. Static vs. Dynamic Website Content Generators
4. OpenAtrium, a new intranet package based on Drupal (which we’ll review next time around!)

Turns out ID3 metadata in MP3s is pretty limited – our show notes in the MP3 cut out about a third of the way through. So, here’s some useful links:

1. ‘Beautiful Web Typography’ talk slides
2. Typekit
3. Kernest
4. Jekyll
5. Development Seed
6. Drupal
7. Open Atrium
8. http://klepas.org/
9. http://klepas.org/beta

The intro music we used is the opening riff of ‘Fake It’ by Brad Sucks (http://www.bradsucks.net/albums/out_of_it/), licensed CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).

Since we’re just getting this off the ground we’d love feedback. Feel free to email us – arcwhite@arcwhite.org and klepas@klepas.org.

This show is licensed Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/au/).

We hope you enjoy!

Over the weekend, Australia lost our last living World War 2 VC – at the ripe old age of 90. His name was Edward ‘Ted’ Kenna, and I met him a couple of times.

It would have been 1995, possibly 1996. I was 11, and we were living in Puckapunyal, the Army base smack-dab in the middle of Victoria. Primarily used as a training facility, Pucka is little more than a massive artillery range with an Army base and a married patch attached. It’s surrounded by electric fences – not for security, but to keep the ‘roos from jumping out of the range into nearby farmlands.

Dad was running 1st Recruit Training Battalion, Echo Company in Pucka. A big intake had meant that Kapooka didn’t have enough room, so E Company was detached to Puckapunyal. The first march-out called for a bit of pomp and ceremony, and it turned out that E Company was Ted Kenna’s unit way back when (or so I’m recalling – it’s been a while).

He came over to our place for dinner, with his wife. They were both genuinely lovely people – just nice, real nice. Ted was happy to talk to me and my brother, and he was even okay with telling the story of how he got his Victoria Cross – though he cautioned us not to call him a hero, because he was just a bloke who was under pressure and lost his cool when he’d had enough. In fact, I seem to recall he called his actions ‘reckless’ and ‘a little crazy’.

Continue reading

I apologise in advance for the following post. I was feeling whimsical, having watched one of President Obama’s public addresses, and decided to loosely emulate the style for a blog post. Consider yourselves warned.

My fellow internet users,

Despite rumours to the contrary, I have not stopped updating this blog. True, my detractors would like me to be silent, if they existed. I say to them – you do not exist, therefore, I continue to blog!

Even if they did exist, I would continue. At this historic time, who could stand idly by, their voice still and silent? When so much is at stake, and so many give their all for the Good of the Internet, how could I sit by and not participate?

There are great things happening behind the scenes; great and terrible things. Just last week, I was accosted by some lawyers over a previous business situation. I thank you all for your concern, but urge you not to worry – for we are greater than this simple challenge, and together, we will triumph.

Continue reading

In about 2 months’ time, I’m planning to be in Europe for at least a month. I’ll pack up, leave Canberra, and spend 4 weeks kicking back overseas.

I may not come back.

Well, not to Canberra, anyway. I’m feeling a strong urge to relocate, to be somewhere else. There are people that I dearly love in Canberra, but I do not care for it as a city. People tend to be closed off; there’s a prevailing attitude of snobbery and affected elitism that I can’t abide. In short, there’s a lot of pretentious wankers here.

Plus, it’s bitterly bloody cold.

I’m considering a shift to Melbourne, where I have a lot of friends and family. It’s all very up-in-the-air. Assuming Europe goes ahead, I may simply give up my current place in a share house and make some decisions when I get back.

Time to hit the road.