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Spider Pig
2007-07-05 05:26:00
Jason at work was telling me about a funny movie trailer that he saw the other day so I had to go and find it on YouTube. I know that the Sipmson's isn't everyone's idea of must see TV, but I think this particular bit is very funny and worth sharing. {youtube}5XQ_GWKvDE0{/youtube} {mosgoogle} 
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Game updates
2007-07-04 15:06:00
I mentioned in a previous story that I was doing some testing for the guy that writes the game system that I use for the high score games on this site. It's all going well so far, however you may notice weirdness whilst I play a bit. Folders of games may come and go, things might look all squished up and un professional, and scores may come and go. Feel free to play anything that you find, but please be aware that your high score may not save properly on some of the new games and some new games may appear that I haven't had a chance to check for myself. If you come across a game that has inappropriate content then please let me know by leaving a comment on this story.
More About: Updates , Game

Potteroos win
2007-07-03 04:52:00
Brads table tennis team, the Potteroo's have won their competition. Two teams finished equal on points, but they won on a count back. There was an award ceremony last night ( which I missed ) where each of Brad's team mates were presented with a really impressive looking trophy. It's one of those cup like ones that should be filled with champagne (am I still allowed to call it that?). They have all improved heaps lately. Brad was the only player from his whole division that played in a sponsored tournament a few weeks ago and he also attended a two day training camp with an Australian representative.  The down side is that the Potteroo's have now been moved up from division 5 to division 3 so the competition just became a whole lot harder. One of their best players is also overseas for the first half of this term so that will make it hard as well.   Speaking of camps, Emma has been at Conningham since Sunday for a two night band camp. I think it is pro...
More About: Otter

Arcade games upgrade
2007-06-29 15:36:00
The guy that crerated the bit of code that allows me to bring you the high score enabled arcade games is looking for people to "beta" test a new version. I've offered to help him out, so over the next week or so I will be playing around with the games. If everything goes to plan none of the existing high scores will be lost, but I can't guarantee anything. I'm hoping that the upgrade will allow me to exclude guest users from the high score lists. I'm also hoping it will allow me to add more games and create tournaments where I can reset the high scores every say month, but still keep the overall high scores. 
More About: Games , Arcade , Ames , Cade , Arcade Game

End of financial year
2007-06-29 15:29:00
Well thats another financial year gone and it's been two months since I started trading shares. I've been keeping a trading log in an Excel spreadsheet that I've built up as I've gone along. Excel is cool because it can create charts of the figures really easily. Below is the chart of my progress to date. The actual figures aren't that important (well they are to me!), but the graph tells a pretty picture. The blue "Share Value" line is the actual value of shares held plus cash left from my initial stake. The purple "6.8% Cash" line is where I would be at if I had left my initial stake in the bank. The spotty "Linear" line is just a trend line for the share value. As you can see I've been a lot better off taking that money out of the bank and putting it into shares. Unfortunately it doesn't tell the full story as there will be capital gains tax, but then I would have paid tax on bank interest as well.    
More About: Financial , Finan , Year , Fina

Google cheque
2007-06-26 02:45:00
It's finally happened. Tasweb turned two the other day, but it's birthday present was delayed in the mail. The present arrived yesterday but I was a bit confused as to how to present it. Tasweb isn't exactly a person and the server is in another country, so I decided to submit it as another news story. Cheque it out below!   How cool is that. After all these years of using Googl e to search for stuff they are now sending me money. That's proof that there is money to be made by running websites. This is just a hobby for me, but imagine how much money big sites with tens or hundreds of thousands of visitors a day must make! Tasweb is averaging about 200 unique visitors a day at the moment. There are lots of terms and conditions that Google impose on me as a result of my running Google Adsense ads on this website. A lot of them restrict what I'm allowed to say about click rates and stuff, but I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to show you my f...

ducks mini golf and snow
2007-06-23 12:16:00
It's probably time for another update. Last weekend we went to Richmond to grab some lunch and lollies. We did the whole tourist thing and wandered around the streets a bit. The teddy bear shop on the green is pretty cool, but people that lived in Richmond about a hundred years ago must have all been midgets as the ceiling in the back room is soooo low. We grabbed some "duck bread" from the bakery, but the ducks were lucky to get any as it turned out to be a bag of really yummy looking fresh bread rolls.      We also checked out the mini golf at Cambridge. E&B had been here before, but I hadn't and I was very impressed with it. It's a great little course and a lot of fun. Brad was on fire and thrashed us both. He actually did so well that he made it onto their top ten board, not to mention the hole in one and beating par on the special hole winning himself a free entry to ......... hmmmm, I can't remember what it was and I have n...
More About: Golf , Mini , Snow , Duck

US Open
2007-06-17 23:05:00
I've been sitting in my lounge room, eating my breakfast and watching the US Open golf on the telly. I just can't believe the way those crazy Americans carry on. Tiger Woods will hit a metal off the tee and they all shout out "Oh my God", "In the hole", "Amazing", "Yeeeesssssss", "Yeah, get in the hole" etc etc when everyone else including Tiger can see that it's a shocking shot that's gone way left and is going to bury itself into the front edge of the biggest bunker on the hole requiring an excavator to get it out and up onto the green. What planet are they on???? Probably the same planet as the guy that drives the little ride on mower. What is with the knee high grass on the edge of the fairways and then there's the bunkers. There must be a child care centre on every hole because they have the biggest baddest sand pits I've ever seen!
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Car problems
2007-06-16 06:38:00
Unfortunately there have been a few car problems lately. Maret was driving their car in Launceston recently when a guy went straight through a red light in front of them. They couldn't stop in time and their car collected the side of his spinning him around before they all came to a stop. The whole family were in the car at the time so their first concern was for Luke and Zac, but luckily they were all OK. The old guy who ran the red light was very lucky as well because they hit him just behind the drivers door. Just one second earlier or later and the result would have been much worse. There is a photo of their Nissan Xtrail below.     It doesn't end there though. Today we were driving down the Southern Outlet towards Kingston  when we saw thick black smoke billowing up into the air. Everyone was trying to move out of the left hand lane so we assumed there had been a car accident, but it was actually a Volvo station wagon that had caught fire. Luckil...
More About: Problems

Happy Birthday Liz
2007-06-11 07:02:00
Well it's the Queen's Birthday public holiday today and my place is very quiet after Brad and Emma went back to Donna yesterday. I thought I was going mad a few hours ago when I heard voices somewhere in the house. I was convinced there was someone about. A few days ago the owners of the house that I rent sent a guy around to trim back a rampant vine that has been threatening to engulf the house next door. The trouble was they didn't tell me about it and he didn't knock on the door first even though my car was in the drive way. I heard a noise in the backyard, saw some dodgy looking guy "hiding" in the bushes and bolted out the back door. I ripped into him and was ready for a fight until we both worked out what was going on. I'm still not happy that he didn't knock on the door first, but at least we were both able to laugh about it. Today's noises made me think he might be back, but I couldn't find where they came from. It just happened agai...
More About: Happy , Happy Birthday

Birthdays
2007-06-08 05:11:00
There have been a few Birthdays recently. Happy Birthday to Sharon and to Tasweb. Tasweb turned two the other day. I'm not sure how old Sharon is but I'm sure it's not much more than that! Tasweb is expecting a nice Birthday present from Google, but we have been waiting two weeks and it still hasn't arrived. You know what they say about the cheque being in the mail!

Stars
2007-06-08 05:02:00
The other day Donna called to say that the Hobart Aquatic Centre were looking for teenage kids to have their photographs taken for use in promotional material, web sites etc. My guys leaped at the opportunity and it worked out well because Emma was planning to go to the pool with some mates on that day anyway. I called in the day before and collected a few release forms and then spent half the night driving all over Kingborough dropping them off to the parents of the other guys. In the end we had Brad, Mitch, Emma, Tamara, Tahlia and Chloe signed up and organised. It was funny when they blew up one of the big inflatable things for the photo shoot. Every kid in the centre queued up to climb on it. Our guys had to wait until they had all had one go before they got exclusive use and had to perform for the camera. They then had some close up (as in really close up!) shots taken in the pool. In return for all that they were allowed to eat and drink for free in the cafe, they were given f...
More About: Stars

chat
2007-06-05 02:28:00
I haven't really got too much to say, but I'd better say something because a lot of you have signed up for email updates and are probably wondering what they look like!  I've ordered all of the bits for Donna's computer. It will still look the same on the outside, but it will be completely new on the inside and lots faster. Prices have dropped heaps since Emma, Brad and I built my own computer so Donna will end up with a better computer than mine for a much lower price. I'll ask E&B to help out when it all arrives from Nintek in Western Australia and I promise to take some photo's and post a story about it. I mentioned before that a mate of ours (TiM) is travelling all over the place with his girlfriend at the moment. I think he is in Egypt right now. I'm looking after his server in New Zealand whilst he is away because it is the same box that hosts Tasweb. I know you are dropping into Tasweb when you find an Internet Cafe TiM, so I thought I...
More About: Chat

When good computers turn bad
2007-05-31 12:53:00
Donna's computer started playing up a few weeks ago. The video would drop out and the light on the monitor would flash as if the computer had been turned off, even though the disks and stuff were still making noises. I lent her a spare monitor, but it still did it. We sucked out all of the dust and stuff but it still did it. I lent her a spare video card but it still did it. She took it to one of the local computer shops and all he could say was "I'll reinstall windows and you will loose everything" over and over again in a very rude and unfriendly manner. I grappled it back off him before he did anything stupid and had another look. I tried to boot it up off a CD to prove if Windows did need reinstalling or not, but it still failed. It was about now that it gave me a little hint. I smelt smoke. Computers don't work when their smoke gets out, so that had to be a bad thing. I disconnected the power, looked inside and found the main motherboard power connector to...
More About: Good , Turn

Toilet Paper
2007-05-29 14:02:00
The weirdest thing happened to me tonight. I went to the supermarket to get some stuff, got back to my car, and then realised I had forgotten to buy toilet paper. Rather than re enter the supermarket of no return and queue for another half an hour I chose to grab some from the chemist. I dumped it on the counter and the fresh faced young lad that worked there started some small talk. He opened with "So have you got a big night planned then". What the heck was that all about? "Oh yeah, I'm going out on the town, just me and my toilet paper", or perhaps "Yep, planning a big night out on the curry". Friendly, but weird! Speaking of weird, has anyone noticed that the other sillyhairdresser game is moving up the list of favorite stories on Tasweb. I cannot believe that those two games will soon be the the most popular things on this website!  I received my copy of the Kingston High School newsletter today. I was looking forward to it because I w...
More About: Toilet Paper , Toilet , Paper

Email updates
2007-05-27 12:34:00
I know that a lot of you keep comming back (I can see it in the sites stats) to see if Tasweb has been updated with any new stories. There is an RSS link on this page that your newsreader should find if you tell it to. Thats cool if you know what RSS is, but a lot of people don't and couldn't be bothered with it. I have created a way for those people to have updates email'd to them (everyone uses email right?). This service is provided by a huge and very well known site called feedblitz. If you would like to subscribe to updates for Tasweb then please enter your email address in the box below and click the "Subscribe Me!" button. You will receive a confirmation email. Click the link in that email to confirm that you have entered your own email address and you will receive an email direct to your inbox whenever a new story is posted on Tasweb. Enter your own Email address Show me a sample email | Powered by FeedBlitz  
More About: Updates

Guitar boy
2007-05-27 10:30:00
It's been a while since I last added a YouTube video, so here is my latest favorite. This one isn't funny, it's just damn good. It's very popular as well. It's been viewed over twenty one million times (!!) at YouTube and is their sixth most popular video of all time. Brad has been playing the guitar this year and if he is ever half as good as this kid then he will make a lot of money! {youtube}QjA5faZF1A8{/youtube }
More About: Guitar

ups and downs
2007-05-24 03:24:00
I said I would give the odd update on my share trading. So far it's going very well. I'm holding shares in five companies at the moment and have sold twice. I've made almost $1000 profit on the stock that I sold which is pretty good after only one month and I'm another $1000 up on the stock that I'm still holding. I didn't want to mention companies because I don't want anyone to go out and buy shares just because I did, but I have to mention AUZ (Australian Mines). I bought in at 12.5 cents and it's currently trading at 19 cents. Thats like a %50 increase in only a week. The day after I bought in they announced that they had purchsed another mining company, and then a few days later they announced that they had confirmed a huge amount of nickle in an existing mine. Metal prices are really high so their shares went through the roof. I sold half to grab the profit, but still hold the other half. I find it kind of odd that I'm making money from a mining company that is produci...

Soup
2007-05-24 01:51:00
I now have a new all time favorite recipe and I've added it to the recipe section. It's tomotoe and sweet chilli pepper soup with smashed basil and olive oil. It's easy and fun to make and has to be uber healthy. Speaking of "uber" my mate TiM is travelling all over the weird back blocks of Asia with his girlfriend at the moment and he did a Thai cooking class in a place that sounds very much like Thailand. I might have to try a few Thai recipes now. Check out his story here.{mosgoogle}
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Two equals one
2007-05-11 15:44:00
This one didn't come from Emma or Brad's maths teachers, but I reckon it's kind of cool and worth sharing.  If we say x=y then x-y=0 (No arguments? Good!)Obviously then 2x-2y also = 0 (You can't argue with this, it's a fact given what we said above) Since both equations above equal 0 then we can say 2x-2y = x-y (Are you following me?)This can be re written as 2(x-y) = (x-y) (Once again, its a fact)Now if we divide both sides by (x-y) we get;2=1 I bet you didn't know that!!!!!!! Can you spot where it all went a bit wrong?   
More About: Equals , Equal

shares and mistakes
2007-05-08 14:59:00
I'm either going to make it big, or I'm going to maintain the status quo, but hopefully I won't go broke. I'm sick and tired of seeing my hard earned money disappearing. I'm actually getting a pretty good return (for cash) of 6.8% from the little bit of money left over from the sale of my house, but by the time tax and inflation are taken into account there isn't a whole lot left. I've decided to finally do something that I've been working up to for years. I'm no longer a stock market investor (I already have a few shares that I've held for years), I'm now a stock market trader on the Australian Stock Exchange. My basic aim is to better the 6.8% cash rate that the bank gives me, but I'm hoping for at least 20% after twelve months. I'm not going to put any more than 25% of my cash into shares and I'm working to a plan that should hopefully limit my exposure to any one company going bad, and even then I shouldn't loose any more than 10% of the capital in that one compan...
More About: Mist , Shares , Ares , Stakes , Mista

Sports
2007-05-08 00:41:00
Brad won all of his table tennis games last night. Thats two weeks in a row! He is now heading towards the top of his division which is pretty good considering we don't even have a table for him to practice on. Emma's netball team have won all of their games except one. The game they lost was just before Easter and they only had five players turn up (they play with seven on the court and a couple on the bench). All of the other games have been won by huge margins so they are travelling pretty well!
More About: Sports , Spor , Ports

The Agfest trip that wasn't
2007-05-06 12:44:00
I've been working on a cunning plan for a few weeks now. When I bought Emma and Brad a new Playstation 3 I told them I wouldn't be able to take them to Melbourne this year to watch the footy. Well you should have seen the look on their faces. They didn't make me feel guilty, or pressure me in any way. They understood the reasons and just moved on. This really impressed me so I set about organising a secret trip. I bought tickets for the St Kilda V's Carlton match at the Telstra Dome last Friday night, but this meant I had to take them out of school. I was going to tell them they had a dentists appointment, but it was going to be a bit hard explaining why they had to pack clothes, but then Emma handed me a beauty on a plate. She asked if we could go to Agfest. I pretended to be on the phone booking accommodation at Grindelwald and it was all set. It was really funny seeing them pack spare clothes and shoes for the mud! What made it really good was that they didn't even realise I...
More About: Trip , That , The A

Funny old Tony
2007-05-03 10:58:00
Well Tony Bullimore has finally left. I know it's hard to leave Hobart once you arrive, but he really had been here for a looooong time! He certainly doesn't look a lot like Dame Ellen McArthur whose record he is trying to beat. His yacht doesn't look much like hers either (it's missing a hull for a start), but it certainly is big and looked very impressive heading down the Derwent even though it had to be towed because there wasn't any wind. If you would like to know where funny old Tony is then check out the image below. It updates every twelve hours and his position is taken from the tricky satellite gear he has on board.    
More About: Funny

Emma the poet
2007-04-29 11:08:00
Emma read her poem to almost 100 people today. They said that there were 49 entries in the grades 7 to 9 section so she has done very well to win. Congrats to Emma's friend Mel who won a commendation award in the same category and also read her poem. It was great to see two teachers and the Principle from Kingston High there to witness it all, but Emma's highlight was when the Mayor handed her the $50. I only took one photo as I wanted to watch her read. OMG!!!!! The power supply for my laptop just caught fire. I could smell something burning so I looked around and there was heaps of smoke coming out of it. I've turned it off and the smoke has stopped. I turned it back on again because it looked kind of cool, but the little light won't come on any more and it stinks! My whole lounge room stinks. If I hadn't been posting this story then I may not have seen it and the house might of burnt down. Emma's poem has saved my life! 
More About: Poet , Emma

Virtual hairdresser game 2
2007-04-28 03:08:00
I can't believe it. That crazy virtual hairdresser game has made it to the top of the most popular stories on Tasweb. I hate it. I can't even understand the language or the writing, but for some reason heaps of people just love it! I've taken on board the comments about the language issue and found another one for you. This one is not only in English, but it's Australian too. It's not all about hairdressing as the answers you provide during the game are used to work out which type of job you might be suited to, but it's fun. Give it a go by clicking below and then let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
More About: Game , Virtual , Esse , Virt , Game 2

Stormy Night
2007-04-21 00:55:00
Here is the winning poem. The theme was Nature. Please don't steal it and use it anywhere else without our permission as Emma has the copyright and retains all rights (wow that sounded official!). STORMY NIGHT You can tell when a storm approachesIt shakes and thumps the floor like a stampede of horsesThe black clouds grow bigger and fiercerThe pounding rain hits toughly on the solid roof like bulletsThe lightening strikes, lighting up the dark skyThreatening the earth beneath itThe thunder booms like an elephant thumping it's feetAs your heart beats faster and faster   
More About: Night , Stormy

Proud
2007-04-19 11:07:00
Get this. Yesterday Brad tells me that he has been chosen (as a member of his School Parliament) to carry a flag in Hobart's ANZAC day parade this Wednesday. He isn't sure which group he will be representing yet. Given that his Great Grandfather (my Grandfather) Tom was in the Australian Air Force in New Guinea, Brad is pretty stoked about it all. Then tonight Emma tells me that she has won the Junior Secondary (grades 7 to 9) section in a poetry competition run by a local open garden. This is a public competition open to all children from all schools so this is an awesome achievement. Not only that, but first prize is $50.00 making it even better! Emma has to read her piece at the Inverawe open garden near the Margate Train next Sunday. There will be heaps of people there as they had an adult section as well. Emma isn't really into poetry, but there is obviously a hidden talent there. As soon as Emma gives me a copy of the poem I'll post it here on Tasweb. EmilyD left today for...
More About: Proud

April update
2007-04-14 12:51:00
There's been quite a bit happening lately. Brad has been away on a three day camp with his grade six mates. He went to Mission Afloat. Emma did this when she was in grade six as well. They both reckon it's a great place and Brad even liked the food. They do heaps of stuff related to the sea as it's right on the water at Conningham. We had a great day fishing down the channel over Easter. No, unfortunately we haven't bought a boat, we just fished off jetties and beaches. Maybe that's why we didn't catch anything! We had to feel sorry for the guy that was trying to pull his little old wooden yacht out of the water at Eggs and Bacon Bay (yes, that's it's real name!). He really struggled with the trailer as he had to unhitch it and push it out through the sand off the beach to find water deep enough to run the yacht up onto it. I walked over and offered to help, but he said he had done it heaps of times before and didn't need any help. He eventually g...
More About: April , Update

Heaps of new games to play
2007-04-14 12:35:00
I've been promising to add a few new games for ages and I've finally done it. Click on the Arcade Games link on the main menu. There are now almost forty games that all save your high score if you register and login to Tasweb. {mosgoogle} 
More About: Play , Ames