The Home of Tom & Morven

Thanks to Sven for this link!

This article is about the worlds first Petabyte storage facility.

1 Petabyte = 1000 Terabytes
1 Terabyte = 1000 Gigabytes
1 Gigabyte = 1000 Megabytes

So 1 Petabyte = One Billion Megabytes!

EMC launches first petabyte array - ZDNet UK News

This article justifies the purpose of my PhD research exactly. Since my PhD is to make a less efficient air-conditioner that more efficiently utilisies metal resources, I’m going to use this article as a reference in my next report.

New study raises questions about sustainability of metal resources from PhysOrg.com
Researchers studying supplies of copper, zinc and other metals have determined that these finite resources, even if recycled, may not meet the needs of the global population forever. According to the study, if all nations were to use the same services enjoyed in developed nations, even the full extraction of metals from the Earth’s crust and extensive recycling programs may not meet future demand.

[Full Article...]

Two articles I found relating to the matter:

Article (Richards2005)
Richards, J.
‘‘Precious’’ metals: The case for treating metals as irreplaceable
Journal of Cleaner Production,
2005, 14, 324-333

Article (Gordon2006)
R. B. Gordon, M.B. & Graedel, T.E.
Metal stocks and sustainability
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
2006, 103, 1209-1214

Thanks go to Ben Harvey for this one! Just goes to show that some funeral directors have a sense of humour.

A cardiologist died and was given an elaborate funeral. A huge heart covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service.

Following the eulogy, the heart opened, and the casket rolled inside. The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever.

At that point, one of the mourners burst into laughter. When all eyes stared at him, he said, “I’m sorry, I was just thinking of my own funeral… I’m a gynaecologist.”

That’s when the proctologist fainted.

I was happy. My girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year and so we decided to get married.

My parents helped us in every way, my friends encouraged me, and my girlfriend…she was a dream!

There was only one thing bothering me, very much indeed…..that one thing was her younger sister.

My prospective sister-in-law was twenty years of age. One day little sister called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations.

She was alone when I arrived. She whispered to me that even though soon I was to be married she had feelings and desires for me that she couldn’t overcome and didn’t really want to overcome. She told me that she wanted to make love to me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister.

I was in total shock and couldn’t say a word. She said, “I’m going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want to go ahead with it
just come up and get me.”

I was stunned. I was frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. I stood there for a moment, then turned and went straight to the front door.

I opened the door and stepped out of the house and walked straight towards my car.

My future father-in-law was standing outside. With tears in his eyes,he hugged me and said, “We are very happy that you have passed our little test. We couldn’t ask for better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family.”

The moral of this story:
Always keep your condoms in the car.

This was my weekend!

• Friday night: Drinks at Meags to welcome Anna back to Australia. Enjoyed the St George’s beers way too much, and drank an entire mini esky worth.
• Saturday morning: Rang up Jesse’s mum to say sorry, I have a hangover (was meant to be going to install a modem for her that morning).
• Saturday afternoon: Accidentally took Port Wakefield Road for half an hour instead of Main North Road, but *cough* *cough* didn’t take long to backtrack on the motorbike *cough* *cough*. Installed the modem, etc, and then rode back in terrential rain. Worked out a new trick for putting my visor down whilst negotiating the clutch - use the wind visor to knock it down!!
• Saturday night: Liz’s 22nd at the Apothecary, followed by the Rocket. Much ‘hotting up’ of Morven’s camera was done, particularly with the ‘fake pash’ photos that I’m now embarrassed to put up here. I do stress that they are very much fake! I like the rocket bar, it was my first time there. I was invited there once before for drinks although didn’t end up making it due to an unwritable and unfortunate occurance. The Apothecary was a cool place too, more quiet, and I was hoping to see someone from school that I know works there but didn’t.
• Sunday morning: Did a good 1 hour running training through the slopes of Batril Spur in Cleland with Laura getting ready for the March rogaine, a 6-hour metrogaine.
  Sunday lunch: Went to the Kessie with Cuthy and his work mates, etc, and Dan & Ben, and went back to Dan & Ben’s house to watch some crazy Kung Fu movie.
• Sunday evening: The JD Project indoor soccer team (the team of my friends and myself) won 6-5, and I did a little sweet power play, if you don’t mind me saying!
• Sunday night: Writing this, and doing some things I’ve been wanting to do on the net but haven’t been able to until now, now that I have ADSL2 back - yay!

I should mention that Thursday was Austrlia Day, and my first ever time to see the cricket. Of course I had no expectations of actually enjoying the cricket, but it was interesting and educational none-the-less. I still intend on learning how the game of cricket works some time. I regret not meeting up with a few other friends I knew were there, I think I didn’t just because it was 41 degrees and I was busy melting on “the hill”, in direct sunlight.

A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a Harley Davidson Motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop.

The surgeon was there waiting for the service manager to come take a look at his bike when the mechanic shouted across the garage “Hey doc, can I ask you a question?”

The surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working on the motorcycle.

The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag, & asked “So doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, repair any damage, & then put them back in, & when I finish, it works just like new. So, how come I get such a small salary & you get the really big bucks, when you, & I, are doing basically the same work?”

The surgeon paused, smiled, & leaned over, & whispered to the mechanic…. “Try doing it with the engine running.”

Thanks go to Benny H for this joke!!

Two Cesium atoms are walking down the street.
Says the first Cesium atom: “oh my god! I think I’m missing an electron“.
Says the second: “are you sure?”
Says the first: “I’m positive!“

Just got myself some small speakers for the office It was a reward to myself for getting a numeric model finally working!

There were heaps of different colours you could get, but they only had the white ones in stock, so that’s what I got:

A blonde and a lawyer are seated next to each other on a flight from LA to NY. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game?

The blonde, tired, just wants to take a nap, politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.

The lawyer persists and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun. He explains, “I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5.00, and vice versa.”

Again, she declines and tries to get some sleep.

The lawyer, now agitated, says, “Okay, if you don’t know the answer you pay me $5.00, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay You $500.00.” This catches the blonde’s attention and, figuring there will be no end to this torment unless she plays, agrees to the game.

The lawyer asks the first question. “What’s the distance from the Earth to the moon?”

The blonde doesn’t say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a $5.00 bill and hands it to the lawyer.

“Okay“, says the lawyer, “your turn.”

She asks the lawyer, “What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four legs?” The lawyer, puzzled, takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references, no answer. He taps into the air phone with his modem and searches the net and the library of congress, no answer.

Frustrated, he sends Emails to all his friends and coworkers, to no avail.

After an hour, he wakes the blonde, and hands her $500.00.

The blonde says, “Thank you,” and turns back to get some more sleep.

The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, wakes the blonde and asks, “Well, what’s the answer?”

Without a word, the blonde reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5.00, and goes back to sleep.