zezulka.com.au

Quite often there are times when a goverment's actiond cannot be explained except with a we need to look like we're doing something. The new law "
Approval from RTA needed to raise or lower car suspension" being introduced from August 1, 2009 is just that.

In an article that I came across: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25790506-26103,00.html NSW Roads Minister Michael Daley says "I don't want to see young hoons putting their lives or the lives of others at risk, just because they think their car looks better 15 centimetres closer to the ground."

Fine, but under this law "car owners will be limited to raising or lowering their suspension by no more than five centimetres, and all modifications will need approval from Roads and Traffic Authority engineers."

To me and many others this is just ridiculous, let's look at a couple of examples:

• What about cars with airbag or similar suspension? Will jumping in your VW Tourag and setting it to off-road mean you're breaking the law?
• How does raising your car make you a hoon?
• Why should one require approval when most manufacturers provide factorylowered springs?
• What about cars that have been lowered/raised prior to 1/8/09?

Such a law is just laughable, sure I agree that lowering a car too much can cause problems. But this is usually a case of owners cutting their springs which is illegal regardless. So while NSW's neighbour Victoria doesn't even require road-worthy certificates, NSW is going the way of the UK - Nanny state!

Oh I can't wait to see what else changes before I decide to return!

One of the things I've really fallen in love with overseas are tea houses. The basic idea is a small place with a relaxed feel where you can enjoy tea from all around the world. Many tea houses also have Hooka (shisha) pipes (more info) and a range of unique food on offer.

My favourite that I've discovered is U Dvou Šálků http://www.cajiky.cz/udvousalku/ This relaxed cajovna with its few dimly lit rooms and slow service has the perfect atmosphere. You'll find young couples snuggling, foreigners teaching locals English, a group of friends enjoying each others company, and of course the lonely student studying frantically for their upcoming uni exam.

Lately I've become hooked on their range of Japanese green teas, but there's so much to choose from that it's nearly impossible. Last night we tried an interesting mix of tobacco flavours for our sisha; Apple and peach first, then banana and tomato (I think).

I do wonder whether Australian laws would allow such places?

The folks over at Engadget had the pleasure of going through Dolby's labs in San Fran. Growing up with somewhate of an audiophile father - I have a sweet spot for audio. Although the article doesn't go into too much detail, the information and photos it does provide are excellent.

Check it out!

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/07/08/engadget-goes-behind-the-dolby-logo/

I watched this last night and I must say it is brilliant. From BBC Two: "James May marks the fortieth anniverary of the moon landings by experiencing some astronaut training and flying to the edge of space. "

Oh and you can find the torrent here: http://www.mininova.org/tor/2711629

;-)

I love my beer! Infact one of the reasons why I moved to Prague is beer. (BTW, how's this for a concept?... beer is cheaper than water in Czech).

I see no problem in having a drink or two a day (it's healthy http://www.physorg.com/news70717597.html ). But I've often thought about not having a drop of alcohol for a longer period of time. My main reasoning has been to save money, but that's not really valid where I am now!

So welcome to Dry July www.dryjuly.com - something I discovered today via a friend. Go dry for a cause! Adults living with Cancer. Now this I think is a great idea and one I WILL particapte in next year (wouldn't be fair to start now and I'm living in the Czech Republic!).

I have supported my friend https://www.dryjuly.com/profiles/alexialangley and I think you should too!

Na zdravi!

Although I've never owned a phone that had this feature, I've always wished my iPhone could speak the callers name during or as it's ringtone. Of course this is just another feature missing, but luckily Frederico over at www.macosxhints.com submitted an Apple Script that will speak the name of your contact and place it before or after your ringtone.

Check it out here: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090624142606298

The basic idea is to run this for all your contacts, creating a unique rintone for each (so really this is a hack).

Regardless it works great! Another user has already submitted a modified script that allows you to place a ringtone before AND after the name.

I want to play with it a bit and have it fade the ringtone and place say the name over the tone. If I succeed then I'll be sure to post and upload!

Welcome, finally to the new look zezulka.com.au website. I've moved hosting environments and updated the underlying CMS - Drupal (www.drupal.org) to the newest version (6.2).

With the new site I also hope to motivate myself to blog a bit more. The idea will be that this is my personal website where I can post my thoughts and experiences with life and my current ventures. If I find something of great interest I'll be sure to post it too!

My current employer is still Spitfire Internet Services (www.spitfire.com.au), working full-time as the IT Development Manager. On the side however, I am behind a couple of ventures:

• 723 Consulting - www.723consulting.com
• OiOi Studios - www.oioistudios.com

This is quite an exciting time for me at the moment. I'm working long hours and at times that I really shouldn't (like Sunday of a long weekend); But I believe that it will all pay of in the end, so stay tuned!

In the next couple of days I will add additional content describing each of my roles and plans for Spitfire, 723 and OiOi.

Keep smiling!
Brett Zezulka