<font size=”2″><font face=”arial,helvetica,sans-serif”><p>Touching the Void is a docu-movie by Kevin MacDonald that recreates the events surrounding the attempt of two young climbers to scale the Siula Grande in Peru. The two climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, make it to the summit but on the descent Joe shatters his leg. Simon jury rigs a descender and they make the tortuous trip down the side of the mountain.</p><p><font><font>As Simon top belays Joe down the mountain he does not realise that he has lowered him over an overhang and over a crevasse. With the weather </font></font><font size=”2″><font face=”arial,helvetica,sans-serif”><font><font>deteriorating </font></font></font></font><font><font>Simon makes the hardest decision in his life and cuts the rope connecting him to Joe. Believing Joe is dead, Simon makes his way down to the base camp and meets up with Richard Hawkins - the third man on the expedition.</font></font></p><p>The rest of the movie is about how Joe manages to survive the fall in the crevasse and makes his way back to the camp. The film spends much time exploring the thoughts of all three protagonists. Joe explores his spirituality as he faces the reality that he may die on the side of the mountain and Simon wrestles with his own demons.</p><p><font><font>I thought the film highlights the dangers that mountaineering poses and the extreme situations that you have to prepare for in order to pursue this sport. Would you be prepared to sacrifice someone in a hopeless situation in order to survive yourself? Or would you be willing to kill yourself to allow someone else to have a chance of making it? It’s a tough call and I don’t know what I would do. It’s quite easy to judge from the armchair - he should have done this, done that, but you just don’t know unless you are in that situation.</font></font></p><p><font><font>The film is beautifully shot on location at Siula Grande. The climbing crew did not make it to the top (it was judged to be too dangerous to do so) but they show some spectacular ice climbing. Well worth the rent or even buy. The special features of the DVD are ok - they show the return to Siula Grande by the cast and crew plus some interviews of the cast of their thoughts and actions directly after Joe crawls back to the camp. The movie makes me want to go out and read the book of the same name.</font></font></p></font></font><br />

<font size=”2″ face=”arial,helvetica,sans-serif”>A group of guys from MIT have developed the perfect publications program. It has a lexicon of IT terms and strings them together to create a pretty good computer science paper. The link to their page is <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=206&amp;entry_id=125″ onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;” target=”_blank” title=”here”>here</a></font>. <font size=”2″><font face=”arial,helvetica,sans-serif”><p>The great thing was (and a testament to the program) is that a paper that they got it to generate was accepted at the SCI 2005 conference (it has since been withdrawn).</p><p>It’s kind of like those flame-letter generators that we used to play around with in university ages ago but on a much more sophisticated level.</p></font></font>

<font size=”2″ face=”arial,helvetica,sans-serif”>So my pet gripe at the moment is all the taxes on air travel these days. We wanted to go to Tasmania later on this year and Virgin Blue had a great sale on. I managed to get tickets for $19 each way (so $19 x 4 = $76), but with taxes the cost of the flight blew out to $270!! We have a fuel levy, an Ansett levy (a failed airline that we are <u>still</u> paying for), noise tax and finally a GST. Is it any wonder why travel in Australia is so expensive when we have to pay all of these extras on top of the trip?</font><br />

<img src=”http://www.tetsuyas.com/persistent/templateimages/img-entrancenight.jpg” alt=”" align=”left” />Vic and I celebrated our two year anniversary on March the 8th but for a treat we were able to get into Tetsuya’s for an anniversary dinner last night. Tetsuya’s won the top restaurant in 2005 in the Sydney Morning Herald’s good food guide and carries with it an enormous reputation.<br />
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<br /><a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/115-Tetsuyas.html#extended”>Continue reading “Tetsuya’s”</a>

Pressed for time? Try this recipe.. <br />
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1 Roast chicken, no skin and shredded<br />
1/4 head of red cabbage, shredded<br />
1/4 head of white cabbage, shredded<br />
1/2 Red onion, sliced finely<br />
2 carrots, julienned finely<br />
Handful of coriander leaves<br />
Handful of mint leaves<br />
1/4 cup chopped peanuts<br />
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1/4 cup of lime juice<br />
1/4 cup fish sauce<br />
2 tablespoons of rice vinegar<br />
3 small chillies, seeded and chopped finely<br />
1 tablespoon of sugar<br />
Pinch of pepper<br />
2 cloves of garlic, minced<br />
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Combine the lime juice, fish sauce, chillies, sugar, pepper and garlic in a bowl to make the dressing and mix well by hand.<br />
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Combine the rest of the ingredients barring the peanuts in another large bowl and mix well. Cover with the dressing and then add the peanuts.<br />

<img src=”http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/81/50/68m.jpg” alt=”" align=”left” />Caught this movie whilst in Perth. The story continues on from the first in the English series with Rachel and Aidan moving to Oregon to escape the horrors of Samara.<br />
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But yet once again, the tape tracks them down and kills a local teenager. Rachel suspects the tape is out there again and is determined to destroy Samara for good. She locates the copy and burns it but inadvertantly announces her location to Samara - who, apparently, has been trying to track her down for the last couple of years.<br />
<br /><a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/index.php?/archives/118-Ring-2.html#extended”>Continue reading “Ring 2″</a>

Jamster is my pet hate on MTV at the moment, they are the ones peddling that stupid crazy frog ringtone. Seems that every second ad on is peddling their “mobile club”. This <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=205&amp;entry_id=121″ title=”http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/04/05/HNjamster_1.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/04/05/HNjamster_1.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> is from InfoWorld.<br />
<blockquote><br />
Jamster, a service owned by VeriSign (Profile, Products, Articles) that sells ringtones and other content to mobile phone subscribers, is under attack for allegedly misleading young consumers into paying for expensive text messages.<br />
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A lawsuit filed last week in San Diego accuses Jamster of fraud and false advertising, saying it falsely advertises that mobile customers can get a free ringtone by sending a text message to the company. In reality, those customers then get text messages from Jamster that each cost $1.99 plus the mobile operator’s standard per-message charge, according to the complaint brought by Charles Ford, who claims his daughter was lured into the service. Ford’s lawyers at Callahan, McCune &amp; Willis filed the case last Tuesday in Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, and are seeking to make it a class action on behalf of Jamster customers around the world.<br />
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Jamster advertises on TV and other media that mobile customers can get a free ringtone if they send a text message to the number displayed on the ad. In fact, those who sent the text message got multiple messages back notifying them that content was available for download, according to the complaint. The customers had to pay for all those messages. Consumers who have contacted the company have reported monthly charges totalling as much as $75 for content they didn’t want or even download, said Charles Russell, one of the attorneys representing Ford.<br />
</blockquote><br />
I’m hoping that something happens to this case, I’m always wary of these mobile download services. Anything that needs to advertise as heavily as these guys suggest that they need to get fresh meat into their service and they aren’t relying on repeat customers.

Inc.com has an interesting <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=204&amp;entry_id=120″ title=”http://www.inc.com/magazine/20030101/25049.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.inc.com/magazine/20030101/25049.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> on Keith Ferrazzi, who was the youngest ever partner of Deloitte Consulting and youngest ever Chief Marketing Officer of a Fortune 500 company. He gives some advice as to how to become a more effective networker - and it’s a little bit more than just schmoozing at some corporate function.<br />
<ul><br />
<li>Rule 1: Don’t network just to network.<li><br />
<li>Rule 2: Take names.<li><br />
<li>Rule 3: Build it before you need it.<li><br />
<li>Rule 4: Never eat alone.<li><br />
<li>Rule 5: Be interesting.<li><br />
<li>Rule 6: Manage the gatekeeper. Artfully.<li><br />
<li>Rule 7: Always ask.<li><br />
<li>Rule 8: Don’t keep score.<li><br />
<li>Rule 9: Ping constantly.</li><br />
<li>Rule 10: Find anchor tenants. Feed them.</li><br />
</ul><br />
The article is well worth the read and gives a fascinating insight into how some people can seem to make connections and not only use them to their advantage but form lasting relationships.

Tidbits has some interesting news in their latest news letter located <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=203&amp;entry_id=119″ title=”http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-773.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-773.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>here</a>.<br />
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Some of the more interesting ones are:<br />
<blockquote><br />
Matias Adds Sudden Motion Sensor Tech to Laptop Bags — Laptop bag designer Edgar Matias announced today that his company has licensed Apple’s Sudden Motion Sensor technology for use in a new line of bags for PowerBook and iBook portable computers. First announced in the 31-Jan-05 revision of Apple’s PowerBook G4 line, Sudden Motion Sensor technology automatically detects changes in axis position and accelerated motion, then instantly parks the heads of your hard drive to reduce the chance of data loss. The new models in Matias’s Laptop Armor/Inflatable line of bags includes a similar sensor chip. When the sensor detects that the wearer is toppling (backward, forward, or to either side) due to the weight of the bag’s contents, self-inflating balloons deploy around the bag to add further protection to the laptop and the person; balloons in the forward-facing backpack straps provide protection in the event of a forward topple. A vital catalyst to speed the inflation of the balloons is a secret ingredient derived from domesticated foliage grown widely in British Columbia, Canada. The company refused to elaborate further. Once deployed, the bag must be returned Matias so that the bags can be refolded and the internal air canisters replaced. For an extra $50 up-front fee, Matias will perform this service up to five times. People with exaggerated balance issues can also opt to purchase a $35 self-refill kit that includes the replacement canisters and detailed folding instructions. The Laptop Armor/Inflatable bags, ranging in size to accommodate all Apple laptop sizes, are available as of 01-Apr-05 for $200. [JLC]<br />
</blockquote><br />
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Where can I get one of those bags?? <img src=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png” alt=”:-)” style=”display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;” class=”emoticon” />