The Blog... Paul Wallace

I heard that "Microblogging is for those with nothing to say?" but I think the real issue is that if blogging is restricted to logging in from a PC, then it won't work for microblogging, it needs to be possible from mobile and other platforms without any trouble.

Saw Jyri Engeström on a panel at the 21c event last week, but didn't get time to discuss with him. Instead, I resolved to try out Jaiku. Quite a few debates about Jaiku privacy out there, and it already swallowed all my blog posts (not to mention talking about grabbing my cellid and whatever and publishing!) Not sure if it will work on my boring old phone, but will try the Java widget, but I reckon the text messages might be the easiest access mode. See http://paulwallace.jaiku.com/ if you want to check out my progress, wish me luck!

As to whether I have anything to say, comments are always welcome 8~)

Category: Telco & Media

The big rescue cranes were onsite at the school by about 4am this morning, and by first light they were setting up to make the lift. Rumour had it that they were coming from Belgium and Sweden, but turns out they had only travelled up from Dartford near London.

 
The main lift was to be carried out by the crane on the right, capable of lifting 300 tonnes, with the chassis being steadied by the crane on the left, rated at 200 tonnes. Once started, the lift itself was over fairly quickly, and the Quinto was back on the wheels by 8am.

They let me round the side to catch some more pictures, and you can see how solidly the Quinto is made - the only damage I could see was a broken light, even the windows were fine, and Homer Simpson was still hanging on. The shed came off rather worse, and the counterweight left a big crater in the playground.

The children were all very excited, especially when a small bear was spotted in the rigging!

 

Only it didn't end quite so well! They couldn't start the engine, which meant that they couldn't get the stabilisers out, so they couldn't fold the arm down, and there was some debate about what they could do next without power for the hydraulics. They finally got the engine started about 2pm (just now) and have almost folded down the arm on the Quinto.

Updated 8pm: Once they had sorted the engine out, the thing just drove away! OK, so they didn't just drive it all the way home, they drove it onto a low-loader, Health & Safety probably not going to risk anything until they had checked it over! Oliver the traction engine showed up and hooted (with laughter?) but I didn't get a picture, but you can see him here.

 

(I meant to post this earlier, but was busy until lunchtime. Also, I'll post the 21st Century Global Summit info later)

Category: Personal

 

Last Wednesday, they had a lucky escape at the school, when a 74-ton crane toppled over in the playground. It narrowly missed the school, and could easily have wrecked a neighbour's house. No-one hurt in the accident, school and house were empty at the time. The only damage was to a crushed storage shed, a broken tree, and a small crater in the playground - although the driver was somewhat startled.

       

I'll post some updates here of the progress to sort out the mess. Word is they will bring in two extra-large cranes, and will have to tear down a hedge, more trees and the adventure playground - as well as isolate the power cables for the operations.

Category: Personal
Edited on 14th Sept to move pictures to new location

As you may have seen, Sun changed the stock ticker from SUNW to JAVA. I was only asked by one person about this, and I promised to write some words, but Jonathan's blog seems to cover just about every angle.

Personally, I think it's good, but it won't address every potential audience. My Mom might not notice, but then the "Sun" brand didn't mean much to her until she saw the logo on the Pete Goss catamaran on the river. Team Phillips web site

Here's hoping JAVA spreads to an even wider audience.

Category: Sun