Lentz family blog http://lentz.com.au/blog The Lentz tribe in Brisbane Wed, 15 May 2013 23:42:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 6 ‘Harmless’ Fads That Caused Widespread Destruction http://lentz.com.au/blog/6 http://lentz.com.au/blog/6#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 23:33:15 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/6 http://www.cracked.com/article_20411_6-harmless-fads-that-caused-widespread-destruction.html/


It turns out some fads have poisoned thousands, started wars, and enslaved entire nations, all for the sake of some dumbass thing people wanted to ride, wear, or eat.

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/6/feed 0 Tillon’s Journey to Jaédeen – Part 1 http://lentz.com.au/blog/tillons-journey-jadeen-part-1 http://lentz.com.au/blog/tillons-journey-jadeen-part-1#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 07:09:02 +0000 Max http://lentz.com.au/blog/?p=3362 Continue reading →]]> Voltaic was a nice place, but Tillon preferred Jaédeen, his birthplace. He missed the gardens and the architecture. Tillon often daydreamed about Jaédeen. His customers sometimes walked in to find him thinking not of his wares and how many quiln to sell them for, but staring into space with a faraway look in his eyes. They would promptly ring the brass attendance bell to grab his attention. “Out on the Duilon Sea again are we?” Inquired Slavando. “mmneh? what?” came Tillon’s reply. “So are you gonna sell this to me for 45 quiln or what?” “Oh yeah right the pack of heglo-spice… I’d rather sell it for 50.” Tillon replied. Slavando was of medium height with rather long legs and a short, slightly roundish torso. His face was that of a high-ranking businessman with a moustache and a fast mind. “46.” came the short reply “49.” Tillon suggested, not wanting to lose this item for much less. “47 and that’s as high as I’m willing to go.” after considering this for a moment Tillon said “deal.” and Slavando took the small pack of heglo-spice and paid the 47 quiln. “pleasure doing business with you.” Tillon complimented as Slavando walked out of his store. Then noticing the time promptly switched the sign on his door to “closed” and started sweeping and cleaning the shelves, then settling down in a chair counted up the day’s earnings. 165 weiln and 34 quiln was the total. “not bad.” Tillon thought aloud. Then, after finishing his felldrove-fruit soup, plodded gently to bed.

The next morning he once again awoke with the strong urge to be in Jaédeen. ‘That’s it’ he thought. ‘I’m tired of this constant daydreaming. Jaédeen is the place for me, not voltaic’ his thoughts continued. After hunting around for a reasonable service he decided to sell his little corner shop. He had already made plans in Jaédeen, just in case. He got a reasonable 12 gillienti and 800 weiln for it. Tillon then counted up his total money, 20 gillenti, 793 weiln and 85 quiln. He spent 150 weiln in total in supplies, including a pop-up tent made from high-quality blowhort hide, a water-sack, traveller’s boots and a magic tinderbox that contained, when opened, an everlasting flame. Tillon often marvelled at how wizards and witches could use such spells. The best he could do was purify water using a basic spell. “Hayo! Tillon! where are you off to this fine mornin’?” came Hectolo’s voice from somewhere down the road. “I’m off to Jaédeen due to a severely annoying habit of daydreaming about it non-stop.” Tillon replied. “Oh going adventuring are we?” “Kinda, but not quite. y’see I’m planning on moving to Jaédeen and making a living there.” “okay c’ya buddy! good luck on your adventures!” Hectolo then departed to areas unknown to Tillon. It was roughly noon when Tillon set out toward Voltaic’s front gate. it was located roughly north of Tillon’s old corner shop and wasn’t too far away. Tillon walked out of the gate after saying goodbye to the few friends he had made in Voltaic. He walked for the first 30 minutes down the main roadway, guided by a signpost that pointed the direction to Jaédeen and the 86km distance to it. The afternoon was, as things go, uneventful. Then at dusk he decided to set up camp off in an allocated traveller’s camp-site about 2km from Voltaic. he threw the tent on the ground, uttered the words that the box told him to and the tent magically popped up into place. He then used the magic tinderbox to light the pile of firewood that he had acquired from the pile in the centre of the camp-site. It emitted a blue flame which lit the firewood ablaze almost instantly. Tillon then proceeded to cook his deorr-steaks over the warm, red fire.

The following day at sunrise he buried the ashes of his former camp-fire and set off again heading south east towards Jaédeen. He went a considerable distance before encountering any people. then as he passed the intersection to An’ dunal, a major fishing hub, the number of people and deggle-drawn carts increased dramatically. “Hayo! sir! yes you the one with the green shirt. could you offer me a lift please?” Tillon asked a kind-looking man. “Ok… where you planning on going?” “In the long term I’m going to Jaédeen but it’ll be nice if you could give me a lift to Gemalia. I’ll be grateful if you do.” “sure thing! I’m actually going to Gemalia m’self.” “Bing-dandy! thanks, oh and what is your name?” “Gernando’s the name. what’s yours?” “Mine’s Tillon” “Ok, pleased to meet you! welcome aboard!” “thanks Tillon said stepping up into the carriage. it was a medium sized one with a few sacks of fruit on it and a storage chest for necessities. “I only have 2 rules here” Gernando stated to Tillon. “1 no swindling my stock. 2 I wont supply you with food, shelter, etcetera etcetera, so don’t ask for stuff.” “Seems reasonable.” Replied Tillon.

The day passed and night fell like a dark blanket once again. Tillon and Gernando had become acquainted with each-other and set up camp by the side of the road under the shade of a broad-leafed tree that Tillon could not identify. they set up the camp-fire away from the tree and Gernando’s deggles. “goodnight Gernando!” Tillon called from his tent before he fell asleep “Goodnight!” came the reply. A little while later Tillon awoke to a rustling sound on the outside of his tent. He assumed that it was just the wind blowing a tuft of grass against the side of his tent then the rustling came again, even louder this time. Feeling a bit frightened he undid the front of his tent and looked out. Tillon saw nothing abnormal excepting a metallic glint in the grass. Out of curiosity he reached for it and found that it was a sword with a fancy design on the guards, a soft handle made of some sort of smooth hide and an emerald sitting in the bottom-middle of the blade. Tillon sat there in stunned silence, holding the sword in both hands. He decided to put it in his tent and examine it in detail the next day.

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/tillons-journey-jadeen-part-1/feed 0 Average CO2 levels rise past nasty threshold | NYT http://lentz.com.au/blog/average-co2-levels-rise-nasty-threshold-nyt http://lentz.com.au/blog/average-co2-levels-rise-nasty-threshold-nyt#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 00:38:42 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/?p=3418 Continue reading →]]>

The average carbon dioxide reading surpassed 400 parts per million at the research facility atop the Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawaii [...] The best available evidence suggests the amount of the gas in the air has not been this high for at least three million years [...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/science/earth/carbon-dioxide-level-passes-long-feared-milestone.html

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/average-co2-levels-rise-nasty-threshold-nyt/feed 0 Ground control to Major Tux: Space station dumps Windows, now uses Linux http://lentz.com.au/blog/ground-control-to-major-tux-space-station-dumps-windows-now-uses-linux http://lentz.com.au/blog/ground-control-to-major-tux-space-station-dumps-windows-now-uses-linux#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 03:30:07 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/ground-control-to-major-tux-space-station-dumps-windows-now-uses-linux

http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/10/iss-linux/

An ISS spokesperson told press the switch was made because ISS astronauts and cosmonauts needed an operating system “that was stable and reliable.” Ouch!

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/ground-control-to-major-tux-space-station-dumps-windows-now-uses-linux/feed 1 Why the mining companies don’t actually pay the tax | ABC http://lentz.com.au/blog/why-the-mining-companies-dont-actually-pay-the-tax-abc http://lentz.com.au/blog/why-the-mining-companies-dont-actually-pay-the-tax-abc#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 02:08:42 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/why-the-mining-companies-dont-actually-pay-the-tax-abc

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-08/iron-ore-producers-book-billions-in-mining-tax-credits/4678228

Well over billion in tax credits for the big four iron ore miners are a key factor slashing the revenue from the Federal Government’s Minerals Resource Rent Tax.

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/why-the-mining-companies-dont-actually-pay-the-tax-abc/feed 0 Trade Matters 2012 – AU DFAT http://lentz.com.au/blog/australia-trade-matters-2012-australian-government-department-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade http://lentz.com.au/blog/australia-trade-matters-2012-australian-government-department-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 04:06:32 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/australia-trade-matters-2012-australian-government-department-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade Continue reading →]]> http://www.dfat.gov.au/tradematters/index.html This infographic (on 2012 foreign trade) looks fairly problematic to me. We export mainly raw materials, and import oil and processed materials. That’s costly and inefficient: inevitable we’ll always lose on that balance. Images for Australia and QLD copied as DFAT doesn’t use URLs that will persist when the next edition comes out… aus-map QLD-map

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/australia-trade-matters-2012-australian-government-department-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade/feed 0 Snake in the Garden http://lentz.com.au/blog/snake-garden http://lentz.com.au/blog/snake-garden#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 05:21:21 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/?p=3390 Continue reading →]]> carpet-python-2013-05-06I noticed birds making a lot of noise outside (no cats about). That usually means a snake either in a tree or on the ground, and so it was this time. I managed to take a picture before it moved on. It seemed to be about 2m long, probably a carpet python (Morelia Spilota). Beautiful!

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/snake-garden/feed 0 Ethiopian kids hack OLPCs in 5 months with zero instruction http://lentz.com.au/blog/ethiopian-kids-hack-olpcs-in-5-months-with-zero-instruction http://lentz.com.au/blog/ethiopian-kids-hack-olpcs-in-5-months-with-zero-instruction#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 01:16:17 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/ethiopian-kids-hack-olpcs-in-5-months-with-zero-instruction Continue reading →]]>

http://www.dvice.com/archives/2012/10/ethiopian-kids.php

What happens if you give a thousand Motorola Zoom tablet PCs to Ethiopian kids who have never even seen a printed word? Within five months, they’ll start teaching themselves English while circumventing the security on your OS to customize settings and activate disabled hardware. Whoa.

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/ethiopian-kids-hack-olpcs-in-5-months-with-zero-instruction/feed 0 Max’s limerick http://lentz.com.au/blog/limerick http://lentz.com.au/blog/limerick#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:36:11 +0000 Max http://lentz.com.au/blog/?p=3352 Continue reading →]]>

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/limerick/feed 0 What Most Schools Don’t Teach http://lentz.com.au/blog/schools-dont-teach http://lentz.com.au/blog/schools-dont-teach#comments Sun, 14 Apr 2013 22:57:50 +0000 Arjen Lentz http://lentz.com.au/blog/?p=3343 Continue reading →]]> Via my good friend and fellow traveller Jaap van Till… every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn to code. Software is now in nearly everything around us, and many are needed to define and create it. Even if you don’t (want to) create code yourself, a better understanding will help you get to what you want and need to do.

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]]> http://lentz.com.au/blog/schools-dont-teach/feed 0