Blog Marco

Don't watch "Meet the Spartans". It's a waste of time. I wonder how this piece of crap got funded? I know its a spoof movie, but there have been spoof movies of a better caliber like "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and "Scary Movie." It was okay in the beginning, then it started to become ridiculous. It started losing momentum about 5 minutes into the movie when they started throwing everything that was "trashy" into a bottomless pit. (i.e. Britney Spears, American Idol winners and co.) I'm not going to write anymore about "Meet the Spartans". The movie simply sucks. Don't watch it.

Found this one while surfing around: "Piracy Stops Global Warming" - Instead of driving to get CDs, buying pre-packaged software from megacorporations and wasting energy; you can help Global Warming by using P2P. Help save resources, fight pollution and save the environment. - It's what Jesus would do.

I was reading a forum discussion when someone mentioned the word "automagically". I thought that was a brilliant typo - but I was wrong. It's actually geek speak:

A computing slang term to mean something that is done by a computer program that cannot necessarily be seen happening, or which intelligently simplifies things of great complexity. For example if you had an application that loaded up a Microsoft Word document and turned it into a PDF file before displaying it on screen, you might say that the application loads a document and automagically turns it into a PDF; or one could say of a garbage-collected program that it automagically handles all issues of memory allocation and de-allocation.

--from an old page at Wikipedia

This is a calendar of the main annual events in Sydney. If you are looking for specific events in Sydney this page from the City of Sydney will be helpful to you.

January

Sydney Festival
Art, open-air concerts and theatre performances.
Various venues
Website: www.sydneyfestival.com.au

February - March

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
The world's largest gay festival, climaxing in a costume parade and an all-night party.
Various venues, parade on Oxford Street
Website: www.mardigras.org.au

Tropfest
February/March
The world's largest short film festival.
The Domain
Website: www.tropfest.com

Royal Easter Show
March/April
Traditional farm show held over 12 days.
Sydney Olympic Park
Website: www.eastershow.com.au

Here's a funny Youtube video of a trader at the Chicago trading pits shouting, "Who put this dick on my back?" over a business news report. Enjoy.

Technical analysis is the methodology used by forex traders to predict or weigh up the odds of future price movements and market trends by studying past market price action. The premise of this analysis technique is patterns within the prices would reveal possible trends, highs and lows based on predictable repetitive human behaviour. People are predictable and have habits: history repeats itself. Also, the price action in a chart reveals everything there is to know about that instrument since the current price action accounts for all the market factors and sentiment, supply and demand.

There are a few sub-branches to technical analysis:

• Oscillating indicators (RSI, Stochastics, MACD)
• Number theory including the mathematical Fibonacci numbers and the slightly mystical Gann numbers
• Elliot Wave Theory
• Gaps
• Trends and Averages

It isn’t necessary to use all of them at once. Perhaps the most commonly used are oscillators like RSI and MACD, Fibonacci numbers and Trends using Moving Averages.

Its no secret - everybody knows which seats on the airplane are the best seats. It's first class, then business class then there's coach aka economy class. Most of us have to travel economy class. Again - its no secret which seats are the best seats in economy class - the exit rows and bulkhead (the front) seats are the bes because they offer the most leg room. Aisle seats are great too (Have you watched those comedies when someone had to get up over people just to go to the bathroom?).

But no. There are other best seats in economy class. So if it isn't the bulkhead, the exit row or aisle seats, which are they? In every plane its different because of the different configurations for different carriers.

Won't it be cool if passengers can invoice the airlines for being late? Well it may become a reality for Australians under new laws proposed by the Government. Foreign airlines will have to pay up to $8000 a person for delayed flights, $1800 for lost luggage and $180,000 compensation for injury or death in a plane crash.

The changes, introduced to Parliament by the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, yesterday, would bring Australia into line with signatories to the Montreal Convention, an agreement between 86 countries.

"The new scheme makes it easier for Australians to seek fair and timely protection," Mr Albanese said.

Under the old system, a passenger who lost their luggage would have to prove the carrier was at fault. If Australia ratifies the convention, the same passenger would receive up to $1800, no questions asked.

"So for your thousand-dollar bag you'd get your money back straightaway, no ifs or buts from the airline," a spokesman for the minister said. "It reverses the onus. If the bag is worth more than the threshold, it would be the airline that would have to prove it was not at fault."

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Submitted by Marco on Fri, 21/03/2008 - 2:38pm.

I was watching MAD TV on channel 9 last weekend (they air the episodes at 2am on Sunday or Monday night) and I realised that Australia is some 2 or 3 seasons behind in Mad TV. Stupid Channel 9. Thanks to the producers of Mad TV for allowing people to post Mad TV on YouTube. You've got to watch this random bit that MADTV made: Mad TV 13th Season Premiere: 24 with Bobby Lee, a Gay Arab and a Terrorist.

Facebook privacy has been a major talking point at the water cooler. Everyone - including me - are pissed at how Facebook handles our privacy. But now, things are changing. They're giving us the power to change our privacy levels! I'm not giving any more information away to my applications (besides the info that I type into their app)

It's bloody amazing at how much stuff Facebook knows about us: They have a picture, they know our birthday sex, hometown, political views, and when you last updated your profile, Personal info (activities, interests, etc.), Current location (what city you're in), Education history, Work history, Profile status, Groups you belong to, Events you're invited to, Photos taken by you, Photos taken of you, Relationship status, What type of relationship you're looking for, What sex you're interested in, Who you're in a relationship with and Religious views. That's a tremendous amount of power.

Facebook is tweaking the privacy settings on its popular online hangout to let users exert greater control over which of their friends are allowed to see personal details they post.

The Internet | Marco's blog | add new comment | read more »

Submitted by Marco on Thu, 20/03/2008 - 3:24pm.

For you guys looking for Free Wifi in Sydney, hopefully this page will be of use to you. Sydney City Council had a trial of free internet hotspots earlier 2008, and plans are that they will have a permanent network by the end of the year. I haven't personally checked or tried all of these but please... if you find a free WiFi hotspot in Sydney or would like to give a review, drop a comment below. Or if you are a Cafe, restaurant or hotel and want to publicize your Free WiFi hotspot feel free to comment below.

Let's start off with central Sydney, a hot tourist place - The Rocks. Here's how you get connected for free:

The service allows anyone located indoors or outdoors within The Rocks’ Wi-Fi hotspot – between Sydney Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay – to access the high speed wireless connection for 30 minute blocks.

It’s a perfect way to check up on local dining, entertainment and accommodation options as well as arts and cultural events and local tours in the precinct at The Rocks’ new-look website.

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Submitted by Marco on Mon, 17/03/2008 - 12:31pm.

Isn't PayPal smart with Credit Cards? When you go shopping around on the internet, find something to buy and purchase it through the PayPal payment system you are often served a page which lists how much the transaction will withdraw from your account. But which account? This is the page which you must read carefully.

First time I came across this page, I didn't read it properly and I just clicked to proceed with the transaction assuming my Credit card will automatically be charged by PayPal. But that wasn't the case. I instead got a statement from my bank a month later saying that the transaction actually went through my standard banking account and not through the credit card. I shrugged it off at that time, thinking it was a glitch and relieved I wasn't double charged for my purchase.

Second time around, I read the PayPal payment page carefully. Then I realised. You have to manually select the credit card option by clicking another link on that page to change your payment type: whether it be from your Paypal funds, your bank account (which you have on file with Paypal because you would withdraw your funds from Paypal to that account), and your credit card account. So I chose the credit card option. It doesn't cost any extra for you the user of Paypal to use the credit card option over the bank option. But for Paypal it costs them money. That's why they prefer you to use the bank option. Paypal has credit card fees to pay which they pay to the credit card companies for the privilege of using their payment system (i.e. Merchant fees). Something the end user doesn't see.

Disappointing. To see an institution linked with the Christian community to be smeared in the public media - yet again (again? Hillsong already has a controversial regard following mainstream publicity in Current Affairs TV programs). This time its a scandal involving Mercy Ministries:

A SECRETIVE ministry with direct links to Gloria Jean's Coffees and the Hillsong Church has been deceiving troubled young women into signing over months of their lives to a program that offers scant medical or psychiatric care, instead using Bible studies and exorcisms to treat mental illness.

Government agencies such as Centrelink have also been drawn into the controversy, as residents are required to transfer their benefits to Mercy Ministries. There are also allegations that the group receives a carers payment to look after the young women.

I was reading some news and the article had the "had had" phrase in there... Looked it up this strange little snippet of the English language on Google and it had about 8 million pages which used the phrase. Some examples of "had had" usage are: "Mum had had three drink-driving charges before 10am"; "I've had had blood clots before with my period but this time it was hard not jello feeling?"

Some fellow even wrote a stupid riddle about it:

"Ann while Bob had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher."

This "Had had" puzzle requires correct punctuation (i.e. using commas, full stops and quotation marks) to make any sense. Answer at the end of this blog entry.

Here's what some people had to say about "had had": It is the is pluperfect of "to have". "He had had a bad day." - In that sentence: "He had had a bad day" indicates that the experience occurred (and was completed) prior to another experience under discussion. As compared to: "He had a bad day" which talks about the type of day the person experienced.

We're continuing the string of damn sexy music videos of all time - and yes all these songs were contributed by readers. Pop me a line in the comment box if you have any more suggestions! this is part 3 of the series to make sure you read the first and second part of this series. Seven Sexiest music videos of all time part 3 coming up below. Served on a platter for your own enjoyment.

Wicked Game by Chris Isaak, Soft Rock/Pop Released 1989. This is music viso is perhaps the classiest of the whole lot. Shot in black and white it shows a coulple prancing around on a beach, getting all touchy-feely. The hot part is when the woman is feeling herself all over and stripping, revealing a butt crack and some cleavage. Towards the latter part of the video the woman is obviously topless and the couple is shown in a few VERY sexy positions. Sexy factor 10/10. Great because it isn't sleazy and is more on the artistic side.