Big steaks at the Waterfront

I dined at the Waterfront at the Crown on the weekend. They know how to serve up an impressively sized steak!

The crustacean in mornay sauce was also quite enjoyable. I found the restaurant to be very modern, and all the food was very fresh - including the raw seafood delicacies consumed. The waiting staff were very friendly, knowing how to entertain, while being professional.

Seriously, how many restaurants can serve a steak bigger than someone's hand? The experience was awesome - and I'll be going back!

Screenshots from the N900

As mentioned in a previous post, I have recently obtained a Nokia N900. Here are some screenshots from the terminal. Hopefully it will illustrate that the interface is not too hard to understand:

One of 4 desktops on the N900

Another one of 4 desktops on the N900

X Terminal on the N900

Multitasking on the N900

As you should be able to see on that last screen, that is 11 applications open at the same time. Some are just web pages, one is the OviMap application (with GPS), and another is the weather application. There is also a chat window I have open that shows threaded SMSs I am having with Jarvo.

So what's the learning time? I think about 3 to 4 hours before you start customizing it the way you want. If you have a technical background, then it will probably be down to about 1 to 2 hours. This is to understand how the menus work with the desktop, and how to understand how multitasking works. The Nokia Maemo website has tutorials. Don't worry about going through these if you have the phone, as they're already listed in the web browser's bookmarks.

What's missing so far?

• Speech directions when using the OviMaps for navigation.
• MMS (but that appears to be coming soon).
  

Linux powered N900

I like things that are free and open. I really like the Nokia N900, which is powered by Linux under the Maemo distribution.

Here is some command line snippets:

BusyBox v1.10.2 (Debian 3:1.10.2.legal-1osso26+0m5) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

mullen:~# uname -a
Linux mullen 2.6.28-omap1 #1 PREEMPT Thu Dec 17 09:40:52 EET 2009 armv7l unknown
mullen:~#

I'll discuss it in depth soon, but some initial observations:

• It is very customizable
  
• The community web sites appear to be alive and well
• It multi-tasks very well
• It appears to work well with the Optus network
• The battery life is shorter than the Nokia 6300 I owned previously to the N900
  
• Kitty Kat would prefer if her unit was in white
  

I am hopeful for the future for this mobile phone / tablet / appliance. I would like it if Nokia would put their full support behind the transition of the N900 to the Meego system. Best of all, I like how the future is open...

Urban Legends fueled by the National Zoo

As mentioned in my previous post, I visited the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra. They seem to be attempting to advocate urban legends. One I read was in the aquarium section, stating that the Great Barrier Reef is an object on the earth that can be seen from the moon - just like the Great Wall of China. While I think it may be possible to see the reef from the moon, it is not possible to see the Great Wall from the moon.

One, that I am open minded to, is that the National Zoo was the inspiration of Tux. Look for the following sign, near the little penguin enclosure:
I do not know how much truth is actually involved with this claim, but it makes a interesting reason to visit the National Zoo, as the Aquarium was somewhat disappointing.

Things they could fix in Canberra #9

After visiting a the National Zoo and Aquarium, I am not surprised to find another thing that Canberra could fix - the Aquarium itself. I do not know whether it was poorly designed, or poorly constructed, but according to one of the staff, the walk through area had a leak, and was closed. This has closed indefinitely. Canberrians used to speak of going to the new Aquarium when it first opened and looking at the fish swim around you. This is what you can expect of it now:
If you want to go to one that "works", try going to the Aquarium in Melbourne. The National Zoo in Canberra should also update their website. It does not appear to have been updated since 2007, and it claims to have the largest saltwater tank in Australia at 220,000 liters. They did not take into account the 2.2 million liters of the tank in Melbourne.

Cockington Green in Canberra

Visited Cockington Green while I was up in Canberra for the Easter festive period long weekend. I've always wanted to visit the place, ever since Jay visited it and took some photos of him looking like a giant. The place is made up of miniature buildings. The only thing I would have appreciated more would be to allow people to walk through the small streets, but this would cause a lot more maintenance work for the staff. I don't know if I would go back again, or even suggest anyone else to go there. Take a look at the photos, and make up your own mind.

And here are some more pictures to show perspective: