Chaucery Blog

Years in the footy wilderness

2008-05-04T10:45:51Z

If you support the AFL's only purple team then you might think that it was about time your fortunes changed. However, some other clubs have been without Premiership success for much longer. Here's a chart of years since each club last won a Premiership (or, in the Docker's case, since they entered the competition):

Starforce begone!

2008-04-20T15:05:23Z

Though I'm not a fan of Starforce I have been living with it on my PC due my desire to race cars around the weird and wacky courses of (the free) Trackmania. When I heard that there was a new free version of this game without Starforce I rushed to install it, and finding it to my liking, removed all traces of Starforce from my machine (uninstalling the old Trackmania does not remove Starforce, you need to run the linked driver-removal software too). To my delight, the removal of Starforce also cured a seemingly unrelated fault. Whenever I started any program my whole computer would hang for a few seconds - even the mouse cursor would seize up. Now that no longer happens.

Goodbye Starforce, you won't be missed,

The slightly digital radio

2008-04-19T07:20:31Z

I got a slightly digital radio for my birthday. In their marketing manufacturers and sellers of such devices try to obfuscate the fact that the radio is not a "proper" digital radio, but they're easy to spot when you know what to look for. See below for my guide to the complete range, from 100% analogue to 100% digital.

fully analogue AM/FM ($10): tuning performed by knob rather than buttons. Current frequency indicated by physical movement of bar, dial or similar. Their technology hasn't changed much since the first transistor radios arrived in the 1950s.
slightly digital AM/FM ($20) - again tuning performed by knob rather than buttons, but with frequency indicated by digital display. Stations can't be stored, and frequency can drift with temperature, time and orientation. Mine [see top photo, zoom in for closer look], a Digitech AR1740 from Jaycar, was described as "Radio Receiver AM/FM/SW with LCD and Clock. This multi-band pocket radio has digital scanning and has a large backlit LCD." They've tried to hide its lack of digital functionality by including clock and alarm buttons obtrusively on the front of the radio. What looks like a huge jog dial is actually the hours and minutes setting buttons. The tuning is all done by a dial on the right-hand side.
fully digital AM/FM ($30) - as digital as analogue radio can be. Tuning is done by the press of a button, and once a signal is found it is maintained through the use of a phase-locked loop. Favourite stations can be stored. Most car radios are of this type now, but pocket radios are still not that common (in Australia at least). Aside from the outrageously expensive ones (ie. anything over $70) TEAC make the PR63 being sold in JB Hi-fi for $30. I haven't tried it, but the specs look promising.
Finally, we come to true digital radio. No longer AM/FM, this is a digital signal that requires a whole new radio. Listeners in Australian capital cities can expect to hear DAB+ in January 2009, though as of yet there are no consumer DAB+ receivers available to purchase. Other countries have been using an earlier standard, DAB, for a number of years, and users seem happy. However, due to the low bit rates that stations generally transmit in the quality has not been an improvement on FM. DAB+ promises better quality at lower bit rates.

Is a "slightly digital" radio any good?

When I started to use my new radio I was wondering if it would prove a useful improvement over a fully analogue one. I'm happy to report that it certainly is. The highly-accurate digital display of frequency makes tuning into stations noticeably easier, and tuning into marginal stations no longer a hit-or-miss affair. Fully digital would be better, but for the price the "slightly digital" is great. This model consumes two AA batteries, which I prefer over the AAA's of smaller models. It describes itself as multiband, which means that it stretches into shortwave as well as medium wave and FM. However, of the 7 SW ranges offered (chosen from the top switch) 2 are permanently stuck on a single frequency, so there are some frequencies I can't reach. However, that's not a loss for me, as without a 10m aerial there isn't much to listen to on shortwave in Perth.

One question I have is why FM tuners are so common in mobile phones and MP3 players, but none have AM tuners. Most of my listening is of AM, so I am stuck with single-function radios. I don't have an active mobile phone, but I'd certainly consider buying a new one if it came with an AM tuner.

(CC-licenced pictures from Roadsidepictures, johnmuk and me!)

Update 25-Apr-2008: The Sydney Morning Herald describes in detail the exciting new world of digital radio in Australia.

Footy's back

2008-03-30T14:09:08Z

The Graphical AFL Ladder is back for 2008. This is my (not so secret) weapon in the office tipping competition. I wonder how I'd go if I based my tips each week purely on percentage or ladder position.

Tibet titbit

2008-03-23T14:10:53Z

Tibet, land of lamas, has been in the news recently. Geographically-challenged people may be surprised to know that if it were a country it would be about the tenth largest in the world. It makes up over a quarter of China's surface area.

I was going to display a lovely map from Google or Yahoo indicating Tibet's size and location, but the entire region appears to have gone missing. If anyone finds it, please notify someone tall.

Bonus titbit: According to the Dialecticon tidbit is preferred over titbit by 98% of Americans and 92% of Australians.

Global feast

2008-03-21T04:53:25Z

Here's a problem you might think could be solved by a little redistribution of food. However, it's slightly complicated by the fact it's generally the poor people in a population who are either overweight or unable to obtain enough food.

The age of fossil fuels

2008-03-09T03:55:13Z

Inspired by an advertisement in the New Scientist for Australian Ethical Investment, and using the data from Fortune's Global 500 for 2007:

Solar cars on the distant horizon

2008-02-24T08:18:02Z

Wouldn't it be nice if you could buy a normal looking car that was completely powered by solar cells covering its surface. If you follow the World Solar Challenge, in which self-sufficient solar cars speed across Australia, then you might think that it won't be long before this technology reaches the mainstream. However, there's still a huge gap between the energy that can be harnessed from the sun and the internal combustion engine.

In the chart, the solar value is for a car covered in 6 square metres of the most advanced solar cells on the planet (almost reaching the efficiency of those on the International Space Station). The Toyota Yaris is the lowest-powered small car that I'd still find fun to race off from traffic lights.

Bear in mind that most of the time these cars don't need full power. So, could I retrofit a Yaris with batteries and solar cells for my daily 15 minute commute?

To make things easy, I'll plug the car into the mains overnight to recharge, but only enough to get to work. I then leave it out in the sun for 8 hours, filling the batteries with 2 * 8 = 16 kWh. To get home with conservative driving techniques I need about 40 kW for 15 minutes, ie. 40 * 0.25 = 10 kWh. Woohoo! I make it home, with power left for the following day. Let's hope that it won't take too many years for the unrealistic assumptions in these calculations to be rectified with technology.

The changing face of home ownership

2008-02-12T14:59:55Z

It's amazing how quickly home ownership has gone from an unattainable dream to a common occurrence. This is one of the wealth of interesting factoids that I found in A Century of Change:Trends in UK statistics since 1900, a report from the UK parliament.

Refreshing weather (chart)

2008-02-07T13:51:59Z

Today's unusual summer downpour in Perth was certainly welcome respite from the oppressive heat of the past week. It also triggered an unusual situation in my WeatherChart, which simultaneously shows temperature and rainfall for the past 3 days, of the rainfall completely overwhelming the temperature display. To ensure that temperatures are always visible in future I have made the rainfall bars slightly transparent.

The Bureau of Meteorology also seems to be in the process of adjusting their data feeds, by adding extra pressure information. For some stations this causes the pressure to register as rainfall, leading to some rather extreme floods. If the change looks permanent then I shall adjust the WeatherChart code accordingly.

Update 9 Feb 2008: I've updated the chart to cope with the occasional extra column of pressure. I also refreshed the list of weather stations, so if your station was missing then now is the time to check again.

Hi high-def

2008-01-26T14:49:23Z

I've had the means to watch high-definition digital terrestrial television for four years (via a tuner card in my PC), but until last month I have not wanted to. This year the TV networks are finally allowed to multi-channel, and show different programs on their HD and SD channels. Channel Ten has started by moving their low-rating science-fiction shows, such as Battlestar Galactica and Journeyman onto their HD channel. Indeed, if anyone has the facilities to view HD, then it's going to be the gadget freaks who inevitably also like sci-fi.

Here I come to my difficulty. I do all of my TV viewing through my beloved three year old Topfield PVR. However, it's an SD model, so it can't be used to watch HD programs. I also don't like watching TV on my comparatively small monitor, and my PC is quite distant from my TV. My first solution was to use an AV transmitter that I already occasionally use to send YouTube from my PC to my TV. It produced a surprisingly acceptable picture, though it was less clear and a bit grimier than the PVR. However, I greatly missed the ad-skipping controls that the PVR provides. It also required the PC to be somewhat tied up in the TV process, especially as decoding the HD stream was quite CPU intensive. These factors made me abandon that procedure after a 2 hour trial.

For the moment, I have abandoned my HD watching. My ultimate solution will certainly be an HD PVR. However, some more interesting intermediate options I am considering are:

Playstation 3 with the Play TV PVR add-on, or
Recording the HD program on my SD Topfield 5000 PVR, and reading the HD file via USB on a laptop, and outputting the program on TV. This PVR can't play back HD, but it can record it. The recording can be seen through an attached computer, which can decode the file, and display the picture. This may sound similar to what I've tried, but having the PVR take care of the recording eliminates one major hassle. I'd still miss the ad-skipping, though. I also don't have a laptop, so I can't try this yet.

All of this proves that Channel Ten is succeeding in their attempt to encourage people to move to high definition digital television. However, perhaps the writers' strike may compel them to fill the schedule gaps on their main SD channel with sci-fi product that they have already bought. Let me dream...

Washing machines across the Atlantic

2008-01-06T13:32:53Z

Front-loading washing machines were developed as a more efficient alternative to the top-loading variety. They use less water and electricity, and are more compact and gentler on clothes. However, although popular in Europe for many years, they have yet to catch on in America.

Updated 7-Jan-2007: Added Australian figures, where front-loaders have been increasing market share rapidly from just 12% in 2000.

Charting the 2007 Federal Election

2007-12-08T06:33:56Z

What better way to test Google's new chart API than with the exciting recent Australian election. Here are the first preferences by party, for the House of Representatives.

I have also charted the first preferences votes over the past four elections (the Liberal / National coalition were in power from 1996 until 2007).

Looking again at the chart API, if you check the properties of these charts then you can see the url parameters used to create them. This means that if you like a chart that someone else has created, you can copy and modify it at your leisure. That is, you don't just have the image of the chart to play with, but everything used to create that chart too.

As you'd expect from Google, the API documentation is complete and straightforward, and liberally sprinkled with examples. Even so, I'm sure it won't be long before some industrious developer builds a user-friendly web front-end, so that even the most timid of users could easily create a handy chart.

Starforce kills American McGee's Alice

2007-12-04T06:56:55Z

After I installed an Nvidia Geforce 7600GT to replace my ancient Radeon 9200 I thought I'd try out one of my favourite games from yesteryear, American McGee's Alice, to see if it had improved graphics. Unfortunately, I found that it crashed on the splash screen. The official Alice web site offered no patches or solutions.

Here's the Windows XP crash error message:

American McGee's Alice has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Luckily, some other people have encountered the same problem, and found two solutions, a no-cd patch and removal of the controversial Starforce anti-cracking driver. It seems that Starforce is fatally interfering with Alice's attempts to check the CD drive for a valid CD.

I can confirm that both of these methods successfully cure the problem. In my case, Starforce was installed by the racing game Trackmania Nations, which came bundled with the 7600GT. It is freeware that can be downloaded, so I don't know why it needs to interfere with the CD driver at all. Uninstalling Trackmania did not remove the Starforce drivers (which is bad in itself). I had to run special Starforce removal software to completely rid my PC of the fearsome pest.

I find it appalling that the installation of a game can prevent the running of other games, and that a law-abiding non-technical user has little chance of identifying and remedying this problem.

Industrious car makers

2007-11-27T04:08:00Z

Who would've thought that ownership of billion dollar car companies could be so fluid? I've updated my diagram of which companies own which brands to take into account mergers and sales from the past year. Full details of the changes are in my original entry.