Thursday, October 21, 2010

'Tis the season indeed

The waves here were really big last week.


Just look at this wave. Then look at the zoom in at right - see the guys head at the top of the wave?


I had a great nap on some rocks in the sun, woke myself up with a comfort twitch.

These are Portuguese Man-O-War jellies (Bluebottles) washed up with the storm.

Mid October Spring

We went to the Powerhouse museum recently... Too many screaming kids. But some cool exhibits, including an 80's exhibit which makes me feel old but also "special."


Here's a solar car that someone threw some trash on. I saw this race in a National Geographic when I was a kid.

Idea for compressing/storing nuclear waste. Look closely for the microcracks which formed through the 2cm thick bottom cap.
And this is Yahoo Serious' guitar (from Young Einstien).

This is our new place.

I broke Karin's surfboard within 10 minutes of messing around so now I'm fixing it.

We bought tickets to Malaysian Borneo last night so ... time to work out and stuff.
Oh, and I got an unjust parking ticket.
A list of things I am up to and must make time for:
  • SpringThing3D - OpenGL version of SpringThing
  • Fix Lady Krustium's surfboard more
  • Go diving
  • Be sociable
Things which have fallen by the wayside:
  • ROMS visibility simulation
  • SpringThingME - (Java Mobile Edition SpringThing stopped at v0.1.2)
Work has been good. There has been a military build-up at my desk. All those really fly! We have an empty room next door to fly in for now.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Container Wall

It was a cloudy day. We had planned it for months. The container wall.

We set off from the dock for the unknown, passing the dredging outflow like a puking industrial sea snake. Nearly out of the narrow passage next to the runway, we sputter out of gas due to a disconnected fuel line. The fuel filter had just enough gas to drag us out into danger. We drifted into the forbidden zone next to the runway, eventually touching the concrete barrier with the "$5000 minimum compulsory fine" sign. Frantic paddling got us off the wall but only in time to be filmed by a cadre of bored security blokes. Some of them seemed to be smiling. "At least the cops aren't here..." -- "um, those are the federal police." It didn't help that we all had black wetsuits on.

We got a tow back to the dock after tying ourselves to a hazard marker, fixed the boat and headed back out. We were persistent boat people, fleeing persecution on dry land.

We splash in. I instantly realize what I've jumped into as shark soup. Can't see my fin tips. Can't see the bottom. "I want back in the boat. Now." --- "Let's just go down to the bottom and see..." some nagging and we were down.


This was a seriously creepy dive. Really dark and murky, with heaps of caves and not much interesting life. We did find a large Sydney Seahorse on a rope.




One sea slug this dive.


Then we went trawling for science.