Halfapenguin.com

After a little bit of tweaking, some of my expensive unpaid time (between contracts), and about 60-70 quid's worth of hardware I have a half decent media centre...

As far as the layout...

• 1.1 Version Xbox


• Xenium 24K modchip


• Evo flash Bios


• Xbox Media Centre(XBMC)


• Xbox media remote

The conventional xbox live friendly bios can be activated from the launch menu...(not that i've actually used xbox live yet, and quite possibly wont until the far off day i buy an xbox 360).

However there are some limitations i have yet to overcome as yet,

• FTP server doesn't work on Mac OS X, the file system interpretation is confused at the moment


• The samba server is highly unreliable


• Unable to access other media shares


• Tricky file copying interface


• Cannot mount fat32 partitions on external disks (using usb adaptor)

However I can now play all regions of dvds without limitation, which is rather useful (half region 1 and half region 2) and also my tv recordings backed up onto cds and dvds can be played despite being in divx formats :)

The main 2 things i want to be able to do fairly easily is setting up an automatic script to put my latest recordings onto the internal hard disk, and also having working samba access.

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Through a little bit of jiggery pokery (turning off the inbuilt ftp server on the mod chip, seems to let the media centre ftp server work).

Managed to upload at about 2.5Mbps which is okayish given ftp isn't the fastest method of transfer, but at least it is a viable method of upload...

Next thing i want to do is put some of my music collection on there so i can use it as a music player (probably going to have to get some extra speakers or use my bose computer speakers (rather nice :) ). But probably i'll have to look at replacing the internal fan so its a little quieter, which may not be easy, but i'm going to have a look into it.

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In a fully elected "upper" chamber which i'm in favour of because i don't like the idea of politicians being able to "stack" the house with their appointed friends.

Since both houses have a useful perspective having an upper and a lower house would seem to be counter productive, instead why not have each the check and balance of the other.

Therefore any act passed through the proportional house, would have to go through the post house and vice-versa...

It should be noted that the American system does allow for appointed (and confirmed) judges and true separation of powers between legistlature, judiciary and executive branches, which seems to be all that keeps America from descending into the dark ages...

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Sadly the police have yet again managed to take a step back into the dark ages, with the re-introduction of a polygraph... It may have some use when you don't mind a huge margin of error, and no certainty of accuracy. In every other corner of the law evidence needs a continuity of verifiability, and confirmable analysis of this evidence.

This is a slippery slope, it may be used on those who commit horrific crimes now, but how long before the police starts requesting routinely using polygraphs in interviews and recording it as evidence for use in a court of law?

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I know this is shameless promotion, but i'm cautiously optimistic about Pirates III,

I was watching the trailer when i suddenly realised what was missing from Pirates II (apart from a decent conclusion...) was the sword fights were not as good as the originals. Yes they were all very showy, but they didn't have the same style or verbal banter of the first movie.

Here's hoping the new pirates is better...

(This is also a test of whether embedded html works on the site...it should do, but it doesn't hurt to test)

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I just watched a new bupa advert, that showed the level of cover that BUPA offers during diagnosis.

The thing i'm thinking is...how much would it cost for the NHS to treat people like human beings, ideally

• Appointment at the time people need


• As much time as possible to speak to the doctor,


• Ability to do bloodwork there and then (sending to a lab if necessary)


• Ability to see a specialist within 24 hours


• Dental and Optical care returned to within NHS proper funding


• Hospital wards which are comfortable and realise that people heal better when given some privacy and comfort


• Emergency Rooms in every hospital because the longer you have to travel to get to an ER, the less likely you are to survive

How much actually will this cost? And surely thats a better use than other expenses the government wishes to burn money on....

We should be getting this level of healthcare... what we get is a poorly managed joke of a health service, its time to change things...otherwise we'll soon be no better than America in healthcare provision....

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I was wondering through gatwick today (waiting for a train i was allowed to catch).

When i was walking to my train quite casually 2 cops walked past in full flak jackets carrying vicious looking machine guns. I know i'm biased and think that the police should not carry lethal weaponry and should rely a bit more on guile and wits, but I'm trying to set that aside for my opinion now.

A gun of any description is a lethal weapon, that can be used to protect people from a threat, however a well trained individual should be able to do with one bullet what 20 bullets from a machine gun can do.

I can see 2 counter arguments to mine,

First that it may be easier to hit a threat with an automatic weapon. However if the armed officers are not trained to hit with one or maybe 2 shotsthen i do worry about the wisdom of putting such badly trained officers on the streets with such lethal technology. I don't want to be mown down by the people there for my protection...

The second argument is that a machine gun (in single shot mode) will be superior for hitting long range targets. Looking at Gatwick airport there are a few areas big enough for this to become a factor, but then surely a 'sniper rifle' might be better since it is designed for long range fire rather a machine gun which is capable of long range fire.

I doubt that the police would change their policies, but i would certainly feel less threatened by police with pistols than police with machine guns.

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Happy St Patricks Day To One And All (Unless you are an uncontrollable drunk, then please celebrate the feast of the Oh God)

Quick Public Service Annoucement, despite my propensity for the colour, Green is definatly not the new Black, Thank You :)

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Just a small update and unoticable from this side, i have now added filtering of blog entries on the admin site.

Next change going live should be access to my delicious feed going live today...

...i'm also considering adding a blog (And other pages i read) section

I am debating putting this information in a third column...

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I have been wanting to watch this movie since i learned of it coming out. I had heard of the book but as yet have not picked up a copy.

I will be surprised if many people will come away saying that this was a movie they liked, because while i found this an increadible piece of filmaking, i couldn't say i liked it.

I'm reminded in nature of the feeling of awe and questioning left by 2001 although there is not the same question of what the questions actually are in 3001.

The visual look of the film made me feel far more there than any other film of this genre, i felt very connected to this world. Partially it was the look of a world so very close to our own, but the long fluid shots lasting 5 minutes or more definatly enhanced the illusion in a way that has been rarely done before.

The writing is well done and while there is a touch of a deux ex machina moment it does not feel forced (although you can feel it coming) and it doesn't solve all the problems.

The basic premise is not too far removed from the book, although the concept of the way foreigners are handled is very different.

Overall this film did an increadible portrail of a world in a very bleak and terminal state, but with a small piece of fragile but powerful hope.

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We are told again and again by "moral" individuals, that children are having "homosexual" propoganda shoved down their throats at a younger and younger age. Well to be honest it does seem fair, every lesbian, bisexual, gay, pansexual and transgendered child has had heterosexual propoganda forced down their throat since they were born...

Strange as it may seem, but un-hetero people are not sex obsessed (for the most part), but everybody assumes they are. One of my best friends (when he cleans the kitchen and doesn't leave banana skins out...) happens to be gay, and he told me about when he realised he liked boys. The long and short of it, was when 50% of the male population realised they liked girls, he was one of those who realised that he liked boys, there was nothing explicit, nothing obscene, just a boy realised he liked other boys.

Part of the trouble is the word homosexual, it has the word sex in there and so people assume thats all it means, it probably would make life easier if those original scientists had called it homogenderism, and heterogenderism, buyt they didn't think about the naming consequences sadly.

Whats really frightening the relgious right is that if what children are brought up with stories where the prince falls in love with a prince, where (shock horror!) the princess rescues her cowering true love from the dragon, or when aladin's first wish is to be true to herself, it'll be very difficult to instil in them values of hatred intolerance, and bigotry.

I'm not saying that the 1001 open minded nights would solve all the problems overnight, and it probably would be more reviled than Harry Potter, but i know it could make a positive difference in the world.

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