General

As you've probably noticed, the site move is now complete. I still have some basic skinning work to do on this site, but apart from that, all of my good (to my reckoning) posts are across. If you're missing something, please go to http://blog.kirrus.co.uk, that is the dormant area for my old blog.

As part of the move, the order in which my posts are has been mucked up, as well as the date on the posts. If you notice any missing images, please let me know as soon as possible. My contact information can be found under the "about" tab above.

I've been reading a couple of online comics recently.
One that really stands out from the crowd, is Æther.

Its based in a world with a kind of magic. Its got a clever, and intricate, plot with truly outstanding artwork. To give you can idea, on the right is one of the panels from the comic's Prologue, very recently re-drawn in colour. The character is called Pandora, the comics main protagonist. But, I'll leave you to find out more about her on your own.

The comic updates three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There is also normally an update on the weekend, usually an extra "Reader Mail", in which characters from the comic answer questions from the readers.

The comic started out being black and white, but switched to colour at the third chapter. As mentioned before, the prologue has been re-drawn in colour.

The artist, Naomi, has an unusual ability to make her comic come alive with emotion: you can almost feel the emotions that the characters are going through.

(All Images © Æther, used with permission.)

Are there any Good Samaritans left? You know like in the parable.

On reflection, thought I, holding my flashing red back light in my gloved hand, pointing forward as I trudged through the mud, on the wrong side of a dark road, it really doesn't seem like it. You see, I cycled about 3-4 miles, to go to a philosophy club. Discussion club really, just fancier name. Well, got there, and no-one was around. So got a cup of coffee from the starbucks in a borders, (where we meet), and a lemon light muffin thingy. Eventually one guy and his friend turned up. Now I am not one of the most.. well social creatures, so.. it seemed awkward.

Eventually, I started home home. It was nice meeting him, but hard for me. Probably about 500 meters down the road my front light turned off. The battery (charged on Saturday, I think..) could no-longer power the very bright bulb. So, I started walking home. Took me about an hour and a half, I think. It rained on and off. All I wanted was for someone to stop and help me, but I had no way of asking. I could have tried thumbing for a lift, but I was too.. well, stubborn, and scared, for that. So I thought as I walked. What has happened to our society? Families breaking up left right and center. People killing, hurting, raping, stealing. Killing by numbers. Killing by weapons. Killing by poisions. Has it always been this bad? Or is it just me, being utterly and totally pessimistic about life.

Does anyone truly care for strangers? Does anyone care for anyone other than themselves? Would YOU stop if you saw someone trudging through the mud and rain, with a bicycle by their side, and a flashing red light in their hand? Be honest with yourself here. Or would you think "Oh he's not got far to go, she'll be ok" or "I can't let him in. If it wasnt raining, maybe, but he'll get my car wet / muddy." Or "I have no time. Must move.. sorry!"

Why is or society like this?? Why have I had the fear pumped into me? Strangers are dangerous, says our society. "Never talk to strangers", we're told as kids.

Any ideas?

This site was getting hammered with spammy trackbacks, so I've disabled trackbacks.  Unfortunately, I also had to edit every article, which stuffed the dates again ><. I DON'T LIKE SPAMMERS.

I will make a proper post in the not-too distant future... life's been a bit manic atm...

It seems my boss is looking at selling his number plate. (Car registration plate for those of you elsewhere.) So, If you're a linux geek in the UK, then pop over here, and have a look.

Gutsy: On one screen the Compiz works fine, and I love it. (After activating it, go to "System" > "Preferences" > "Appearance", click on "Visual Effects".) Takes a little getting used to, but the eye-candy is nice ^^

Halo 3: Finished the single player, after some helpful tips from my boss cleared me out of where I was stuck at. (When you're going through the Flood-infested ship to find Cortana, try and get a needler [for wall spiders] and blade [for everything else]) Multiplayer is hard, still haven't really got into it.
I'm also looking at getting another couple of games. (Viva Piñata & Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which I've both played, they're really good.)

Novels, I'm currently reading Billy Graham's autobiography, and "Moving Target", a sci-fi by Elizabeth Moon.

I will post another update about the storm worm soon.

This is an entry testing Full-Text RSS feeds for this blog.
(Which can be found here: http://kirrus.co.uk/the-kirrus-blog/RSS_extended, if you want to try it).

Firstly, Hello Planet Ubuntu-UK!

Sorry I haven't made a specific Ubuntu post in a little while, not too long now. If you think of anything you want to know about the gnome interface, comment and I'll blog on it. (The same sort of thing I did for Wanda the Fish.)

On a personal matter, I passed my driving test Saturday! Insurance is going to be fun... but I'm covered till thursday on a sort-of temporary one, so I drove to work this morning.
It feels very, very odd to actually be driving... now I've just got to decide where to go next!

News Comment: I saw this story come up on BBC recently
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7112929.stm

The teacher did not insult Prophet Muhammad, and had no intention of doing so. In fact, the name "Muhammad" is quite common among some populations. So why did you jump up and down on a teacher for naming the bear as the children wanted? Where is the insult there?

Is it just me that I can't see one?

A couple of days ago, it was raining really heavily. So, out came the trusty digital camera, and here are the best three shots of the night. (I took about 25. I'm glad that digital film is free!)

The really interesting thing about taking all the photos was holding the camera still whilst I was getting pelted with rain and wind. I had to tweak the shutter timings to try and get a good photo without the flash: the flash destroyed the image, the falling rain all reflected the light into the lense, and it ruined the photo. I've still got the images, if you want to see...

I'll post about my car in the not-too distant future (and why I was walking through the rain instead of driving...)

For the person found this blog through google with the Ubuntu terminal command:

cd / && sudo rm -rf

as your search term, DO NOT RUN IT! It will destroy your computer! In fact, don't run ANY terminal command with "rm" in unless you know exactly what its doing!