Most of the Flash content I ever see is advertising. 

That’s right, advertisements that are animated or interactive or contain video content.  The internet is rife with it, and it makes me wonder if that skews the figures as to how widespread the use of Flash is on the net.

What about YouTube I hear you say?  Well, that already taken care of on my iPhone – and if I get an iPad (and there’s a good chance that I will since my iPhone has just been so good to me), it’ll be taken care of there too.  Games?  Same story.

Seeya Flash.  I enjoyed online Pac-Man for a while there.

At this stage I would also like to point out that I don’t miss my HTC Touch Diamond, my Samsung Omnia, my Palm Treo 750, my iMate SP3i and all the other dreadful Windows Mobile attempts at smartphones that I have owned prior to my iPhone. But that’s another story…

Hey, where is everybody else???

ET iPhones home

IF UFO enthusiasts have their way, tourists will soon be flocking to Darwin from around the world seeking close encounters with aliens rather than crocs and other mundane critters.

Alan Ferguson is one who believes alien activity in the skies over the Northern Territory could rival the wonders of Kakadu, Katherine Gorge and Uluru.

For the past year he has claimed publicly to have seen unidentified flying objects circling above his home in Acacia Hills, south of Darwin.

Earlier this week, he made public a video that he says proves his case.

“You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see it for your own eyes,” he said.

The video has been screened on television and drawn thousands of internet hits.

Mr Ferguson has created a website to entice people Down Under to see for themselves.

“After seeing all these sightings and UFOs for years, I said to myself we’re crazy for not promoting this joint as a UFO hotspot,” he said.

“You get 200,000 people a year who go to Roswell,” he said, referring to a site in the United States where UFO proponents contend an alien space craft crashed in the 1940s.

“And the only thing there is a museum, you don’t see nothing else, whereas here they are flying around the skies, and they’re continually flying around the skies all the time.

“So why not come here and see them for real?”

Tourism Top End president Sylvia Wolf said that it would be up to Mr Ferguson to secure funding for a possible tourism venture.

“There is a lot of interest in it, especially from overseas, and I think he’s certainly onto something,” she said, adding that Tourism Top End had a link on its website to direct people to Mr Ferguson.

“People are coming out of the woodwork. They didn’t want to say anything before, but now they are speaking up (about sightings).

“It’s certainly a great area for it.”
Speaking to the Seven Network, ufologist Doug Moffett said there was a history of unexplained sightings in the NT.

“Certainly in the last 18 months it has been an area of unusually high activity,” he said.

“So we don’t know why this is the case, but certainly some areas seem to get hit…

“I think the important thing is try and get things together that is going to create scientific interest as far as research, because then we are going to move forward…

“This is the last frontier that we’re at.”

Source: http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,25919619-5014090,00.html

The next day I was buzzed by a bee, and another bird slammed into the window. A butterfly flapped around the window near me all day. Is something trying to tell me something?

So tomorrow we board a plane to Turkey. My wife suggested that I write this story down somewhere in case of an unfortunate event. See you on the other side.

Readers, I don’t mean that lovely feeling of leaving all you worries behind as soon as you board the plane. I mean the exquisite avoidance of real life problems in the weeks and, if you’ve mastered the art, even months leading up to departure day. I have discovered the secret to evasion and detachment. Start planning a holiday months in advance, and then do all you can to focus on the departure day like nothing else matters.

My new mantra: Nothing can stick to me, because I’m going away on the 9th of May.

I can put up with the pile of bullshit that constitutes my job, because I’m going away on the 9th of May.

I can indulge in lust and debauchery with an extremely sexy man who is completely exciting but not at all relationship material because I’m going away on the 9th of May.

I can eat whatever the hell I want and slack off my on my usually anal exercise regime, because what’s the difference? I’m going away on the 9th of May.

Upon returning, all these life issues on which you once placed so much emphasis will have dissipated into mere tedium, because 7 weeks away means the beginning of a new focus; a new outlook; a new life. You can face anything and everything after 7 weeks of different languages, cultures and experiences. A new perspective is discovered.

Try it for yourself today.

Then along came ringtones. You could get your favourite song, albeit a beep beep version, to distinguish your phone from everyone else’s.
Then along came polyphonic ringtones. Not only could you get a ringtone that was different, you could almost dance to it (“Freestyler” was very popular). Everyone was an individual, and for a time it was good.

The next big thing was “real tones” and mp3 tones. These were actual digitally sampled sound bytes from your favourite song or noise. There was no looking back now. Not only could you get your favourite song from your favourite singing frog, but you could get a barking dog, an ambulance, a v8 engine, a screaming orgasm or anything you could possibly think of. Freedom of choice was here to stay. Or was it?

Suddenly, just like the day you went to school and everyone somehow knew that Yo-Yos were the new Rubik’s Cube, everything changed. Suddenly, the only acceptable ringtone on a mobile is the ringing bell of an old fashioned telephone. Anything else is a social faux par. Now, as it once was, if a mobile phone rings, everyone gets out their phones, thinking it is theirs ringing.

The great circle of life continues.

Something I’d been hiding was revealed to everyone around me. They were guests – almost all were female, at a place that was like a hotel, but more like the house of a wedding dress maker I once knew.

It didn’t really bother me that my secret was exposed. There was an initial silence about the matter. It was freeing.

I could now walk around and not have to be perplexed by this thing anymore.

So I realise this is the one thing I want.

Now playing: Mr Brightside [Jacques Lu Cont mix]

I say that because recently I landed a job with a global company at an office in London. Given the current odds of landing a job in London at all at the moment, that was pleasant surprise number one. Pleasant surprise number two of course was being flown to Detroit for meetings and greetings at the US head office.

I guess what I am trying to say is that leaving one’s vocational comfort zone, whether leaving voluntarily or getting pushed can land you in the most surprising of situations. Plus this is also an opportunity to apologise to all those I have neglected to keep in contact with over the last hectic couple of months.

Pleasant surprise number three has to be the fact that the week before I arrived, the temperatures dropped to an unseasonably cold -25 Degrees Celsius, before returning to a more moderate average of -3 degrees. I love this city!

Herewith, several things equipping the arsenal of Hound in 2009 are:
“You can’t be friends with everyone. So enjoy your sleep.
“If you put it out there, you will find it. If you put it out there and find it a little beyond your price range, splurge. You will find the funds, but may never find it again. (In this Hound’s case it is a Boucheron watch).
“People are funny. The best people will laugh aloud with you – and like your watch.

The Hound is onto you!

Now playing: Here I am Baby [Seal]

For what seemed like “The Trifecta” of Tasmaniacs, i.e. Three Gentleman in a row, based in Tasmania, squandering the Heart of Hound … is now culminating into an enticing challenge. Broulee the predicted location (with a stint in Manly in between).

Keep your friends close, and your enemies… somewhere in Roma.

In channeling Florence Scovel Shinn this week: ‘There is a supply for every demand’ rings true. This Hound has found a new sport – and players to play with. An out of town player who thinks he can out-hound Hound can only result in interesting times ahead. Word.

Turn that other cheek, brother. For, on continuation of quoting The Scovel Shinn, who perpetuates the need for moving on, and effectively “blessing” other people (wrongdoers) – this Hound has realised things eventually come to Hound. Hotel Upgrades. Lovers. Changes in position. Perhaps they are the manifestation of an inner articulation. Perhaps they are chance (Scovel Shinn would argue otherwise, but that was 1925, and times have since changed).

It is a nice thing to believe that LIFE is a game of SKILL and CHANCE plays no part. Explain then, Tatt’s.

Reliance on one’s intuition, however- is timeless; essential. Believe it. It’s like wireless.

Now playing: Happy People [R. Kelly] You know who you are.