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Lego Black Seas BarracudajawaproThu 24/09/2009 11:23 PM
20 years ago in 1989 Lego released one of their most legendary sets ever - the original Pirate ship - the Black Seas Barracuda #6285 (known in Australian catalogues as the Dark Shark).
I turned 5 in 1989, and ever since, I’ve wanted one of these ships. Lego released a lot of other pirates ships over the years, but the BSB has always been my favorite. Used to spend hours looking through the lego catalogues and dreaming. Dad helped me build a wooden one (well - he did most of the work, I pretended to help) but it wasn’t quite the same (thanks a heap though Dad).
So 20 years later, I have a job and can afford things like this occasionally. So I have left a search running on ebay, and chased a couple of the ships - but never managed to get one at a reasonable price.
Well - finally I got one. It’s not 100%, but in great condition for a 20 year old set. There are a few missing parts and some of the flaps have perished and broken - but on the whole everything’s in great nick. The colors haven’t faded, and it has the original sails and ropes intact. Very nice for such a rare set.
With a small bricklink order to replace the broken and missing parts and a serious de-dusting (it’s spent the last 20 years on a bookshelf) it’ll be ship-shape and ready to sail.
Comes complete with a custom built display stand and the original box (sadly no instructions though).
And to those who read the comments in the previous post, I agree with Emma. A Girlfriend would have been much bigger news - but alas, they are even rarer.
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UpdatejawaproMon 21/09/2009 06:04 PM
The Bad. Today I installed Safari on windows. Possibly my most embaressing moment to date. Stupid testing....
The Good. Over the weekend I finally aquired something I've been dreaming about for 20 years. Really stoked! Stay tuned - photos when it arrives....
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Recalled to Active Duty....jawaproMon 21/09/2009 05:59 PM
About a year and a half ago I got my new PC (Phaeton) and retired the old one (Jadesfire).
Good old Jadesfire was supposed to become part of my new server (Mara) but that project is still on hold.
In the meantime, I’ve had a computer at my parents place. I go back there on the weekends, and it’s nice not to have to bug my parents when I want to check my email etc.
For a while I used Troglodyte (the previous Jadesfire) but he’s had a bit of a breakdown and won’t detect his drives anymore. I also had Drongo there for a while, but for some reason took him home again (probably when I fixed Troglodyte again).
As Ben ‘n’ Bec and Mike ‘n’ Gabs will be crashing at my parents place next weekend, I decided to tidy up my room there - and finally get a PC going there properly.
First I tried to fix Troglodyte, but I think it’s a mobo problem so there’s not much chance there. I was going to pull out the even slower Drongo, when I suddenly had a wave of inspiration. Jadesfire was just sitting there patiently waiting to be gutted as part of project Mara MKIII. Seemed like the perfect solution - it’s still decently powered, and would be a great computer for the weekends when I’m at my parents.
So Jadesfire has been called back into Active Duty.
As well as being my weekend PC, it’s also my off-site backup. Thanks to a nifty (but somewhat sluggish) application called CrashPlan, my backups are being trickled from Karlendorf (my server) to Jadesfire. The idea is that even if my house is stolen or burns down, I’ll still have a copy of my photos and documents and other things that can’t be replaced.
While setting up a daily replicated off-site server might be beyond the needs of most people, I completely recommend doing something for off-site storage of your most important files. Even if you burn them to a DVD and leave them at a friends place etc.
Welcome back Jadesfire - we’ve missed you...
http://www4.crashplan.com/consumer/index.html
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Zeke gets tanked...jawaproSat 12/09/2009 11:43 AM
As some of you may have been lucky enough to know - I own a pair of remote control tanks. They shoot infra-red at each other, and record hits. Each tank has a certain amount of ‘life’ and when it’s gone, it makes an exploding noise and stops moving.
The real kicker of the game (which would be fun anyway) is that the controls ‘shock’ the person whose tank is hit with an electric jolt (similar to an electric fence).
If you’re game - you can up your tank to ‘high’ which means you get an extra strong jolt, but you also do 2 pieces of damage each time you hit the enemy.
Now - as the most common reaction when you get shocked is to throw the thing that shocked you away, the controllers have a wrist strap to prevent them being continually dropped on the floor. Great idea - until you meet Zeke.
Last night we went to Tim’s for a movie night. I really needed to relax after a hectic week at work - I’ve worked close to an extra day above my standard hours this week! Anyway - I brought along my tanks because I don’t think I’ve shown them to this particular group of friends before.
In the photo above, neither person was using the wrist strap, but after they started dropping the controllers, I asked them to put the strap on.
We shared the controllers around, and when it came back to Zeke’s turn again, he must have forgotten how powerful the zap is. When he was shocked he threw the controller away with insane force.
His throw was so powerful that part of the control remained strapped to his wrist, and the rest of it went sailing through the air - directly into his face.
Not only did it destroy a controller, but Zeke clobbered himself in the face pretty well.
I think it's safe to say that Tom won that particular match-up.
Now I have to try some soldering and glue to see if I can repair my controllers for my next victim.
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Loeb wins WRC Australia.... no wait!jawaproMon 07/09/2009 06:53 PM
Well - Rally Australia is over. It’ll be back in 2 years time (alternates with Rally NZ).
Mikko Hirvonen managed to hold on to second place - even after the disadvantage of road sweeping (Loeb was in the lead at the end of day 2, but decided to go slow on the last stage to force Mikko to sweep).
Loeb’s win had moved him up in the championship, so he was only 1 point behind Mikko. As the next rally is tarmac (Loeb’s original specialty - winning seems to be his specialty now), you’d have to put your money on Loeb for that one. If Mikko was able to come second - he’d still have to beat Loeb on the final gravel event to claim the championship.
It could have been far worse - at least with a second place, the championship was still up for grabs, and Mikko had a very slight advantage going into the last 2 rounds.
BUT HOLD THE PHONE!
After the rally was all over, the stewards took a look at the cars, and discovered that those sneaky French cars were cheating! Well - actually, they just had the wrong sized roll-cage or something. Either way, it meant a penalty, and Loeb ended up in second place, while Mikko took the win!
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/motorsport/news/article/-/5939142/loeb-penalty-sees-hirvonen-claim-rally-australia
It’s not the way he’d want to win - but he and team-mate Marcus Gronholm suffered the same thing a few years back because their rear side window was too thin. Almost poetic justice.
Most interestingly - this means the Mikko has moved up in the championship instead of Loeb closing on him. Even if Loeb wins both events now, Mikko can come second and still win the championship.
Still a very tough ask, with drivers like Sordo (Citroen’s number 2 driver - also a tarmac specialist) wanting to upset things - but this just might be the year where Mikko can finally knock Loeb off his French throne and claim the championship.
Can’t wait for the next events.
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