Worth Reading: Yes

Summary: This is the true story, as the title suggests, about a Lion called Christian. Christian was purchased by two young Australians at Harrods of London and stayed with them until his release back into the wilds of Kenya with the help of George Adamson (of Born Free fame).

The Aussies realised that Christian would probably spend the remainder of his life in a Zoo, unless they did something about it. What results is a wonderful tale of his relocation and rehabilitation back to the life he was born to lead.

This is certainly worth a read. This version is the recently updated version with over 50 photographs of Christian. It was released because of Christian’s tale rising again to prominence through YouTube. I have added the reunion clip below.

How likely would this situation occur today? Would cost come into it? I hope it wouldn’t but, I’ll leave that up to you.

Tags: Lions

Worth reading: Yes

Summary: This is the true account of Elsa, the lioness rescued with her sisters and, raised and nutured by Joy and George Adamson while George was the senior game warden for the Northern Frontier district in Kenya.

Born Free was written by Joy Adamson and chronicles the life of Elsa while she was part of the Adamson “Pride” and as they prepared her for her release back to the wilds of the African life she was born to.

It is an incredible tale of a lion who ended up being completely at home in two worlds, and knowing the boundaries and freedoms of each.

I saw the movie of the same name more than twenty years ago, and the story is still an inspiring one albeit in an Africa that is all but gone.

... the final paragraph is this

Whatever her ultimate fate may be, we shall always be thankful that she has given us a unique experience and the abiding memory of a most lovable character. If I have sadly to confess that “With a great sum obtained I this freedom” for her, I like to think that when she rubs her face against mine she is trying to comfort me by saying, in her own way, “But I was free born.”
Joy Adamson, 1960

Tags: Lions

Worth reading: Yes, but it helps to have read the other two first.

Summary: This is a continuation of the Myst series and follows on from Atrus’ re-discovery of the ruins of D’ni. After searching the ruins and collecting as many linking books as they could find Atrus and his band set out to find the strewn remnants of the D’ni population through the written ages.

After searching and not finding many descendants they discover a hidden library. One book takes them to a fantastic Age where the inhabitants are long lost relatives of the original D’ni. However, their opulent Age belies a secret. Atrus must now fight, something that is against his nature, to save a situation he unwittingly created.

Snow Leopard arrived yesterday right when Apple said it would be delivered.

I ran the install on my iMac this morning. I can’t rightly say how long it took because I went off and did other things while it worked away.

However, it installed without a hitch.

By default it runs in 32-bit mode for compatibility reasons. You can check this by doing a

uname -a

in a terminal window.

You can also use System Profiler and check the “64-bit Kernel and Extensions” under “Software” if you’re a clickety-click type person.

I will have a little issue getting 64-bit working on my Macbook 2,1. While the processor supports it fine, the Firmware has limited it to 32-bit. I hear there are work-arounds for this and will need to investigate. To check if your firmware supports 64-bit mode run the following command in a terminal window:

ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi

Check the EFI result, 64 is what you’re wanting to see.

To boot your new install into 64-bit mode, simply hold down the 6 and 4 keys while the computer boots. Reboot to go back to 32-bit mode.

To make the 64-bit switch permanent edit the file:
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

find:
Kernel Flags


change to:
Kernel Flags
arch=x86_64

and reboot.

If you then wish to duck back into 32-bit mode just hold down the 3 and 2 keys while the system is booting.

Tags: OS X, apple

Watch Stephen Fry explain GNU and Linux and why you should use it.

http://www.gnu.org/fry/

Tags: Linux

Continuing on with my “Country” theme, here is Slim Dusty singing the words from Banjo Paterson’s Man from Snowy River.

I used to be able recite this poem from memory when in Primary School.

I don’t particularly like “Country” music, but I can listen to Slim.

Tags: slim dusty

I don’t think I can make it any clearer.

Tags: john denver

I don’t like everything Tori Amos produces, but I like quite a bit of it. Here is one of my favourites...

Tags: tori amos

This looks interesting...

This site is collecting messages that will be transmitted to Gliese 581d, a planet outside our Solar System which may support life.

Messages will be transmitted at 28 August 2009 at 12 noon (Australian Eastern Standard Time)

http://www.hellofromearth.net/

Tags: astronomy

People are going to speed in their vehicles regardless of what authorities try to do about it. I see it every morning and afternoon on my way to work. These are usually the times when Police have knocked off for the day.
Given this plainly evident situation, here are my new rules for National Divided roads (like the M1 from Brisbane to Cairns).

1. Left lane is speed restricted to 110 Kph
2. Right lane is unrestricted (drive as fast as you like or your vehicle will allow)
3. Any vehicle over 1.5 tonnes is restricted to 110 Kph and must use the left lane unless overtaking.
4. Any vehicle in the act of towing anything is restricted to 110 Kph and must use the left lane unless overtaking.
5. All on and off ramps are to be signed with High visibility signage informing motorists that death is likely and does occur often.
6. No insurance cover is provided if you exceed 110 Kph in any lane
7. If the driver of a motor vehicle causes an accident through negligence they lose their vehicle (never returned) and license for 12 months.
8. All current speeding road fines are tripled for the National routes.
9. No motorist using the National route can by any means sue or bring legal proceedings against any other motorist using the National route.
10. Any roadworks being carried out on a National route, must be carried out while ensuring traffic can continue at minimum of 110Kph in at least one lane, at any time of the day or night.
11. Only an accident is sufficient reason to restrict the speed limit to less than 110 Kph, and only while the accident has not been cleared.
12. Any vehicle carrying children under 16 is restricted to 110 Kph and must use the left lane unless overtaking.

I’m sure you can think of others (I’d like to hear them), and there will probably be caveats to these.

I’m also sure this will outrage some people... probably those who like to restrict and confine, but we’re all allowed our own opinions and these are mine.

Worth Reading: Yes.

Summary: Suddenly the continental United States is enveloped by a blue cloud of plasma. Everyone that was inside the cloud is gone. The worlds largest economy has ceased to exist, and with that others start to crumble. Countries fall into civil strife. The war in the middle east suddenly changes. America’s military machine has lost its support line, and the rest of her citizens have lost their commander in chief.

What I did find interesting was the complete lack of focus on what the plasma was and how it occurred. The focus of the entire book is what occurs because of the loss.

Another blast from the 80’s