Christmas day has at least started for the entire planet.

Mery christmas and I hope Santa brought everything you wanted.

If you find yourself bored at anytime over the next few days, feel free to make yourself a Terrrorist Santa Claus.

Image sourced from http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/3096226997_e9650a1f1c_o.jpg

I used to own a nice compact Canon Ixus 900Ti camera – It was a lovely little camera but unfortunately didn’t come out too well in a match against a concrete floor.

I decided to replace it with the Canon Ixus 960 IS (updated model), one of the main benefits is that my leather case, screen protector, battery and charger are the same so no need for new accessories (Hopefully I can modify my WP-DC7 waterproof case to fit the 960 is).

Anyway, the front of the camera (and all pamphlets) clearly state it’s 12.1 Megapixels:

In full resolution it takes photos of exactly 4000 by 3000 pixels – Last time I checked, this was 12.000000 Megapixels, definitely not 12.1.

I understand rounding, but this is definitely false advertising – Unless somewhat wants to challenge my maths.

Apollo 8 launched 40 years ago today. This was to be the first time humans would ever orbit the moon and laid the foundation for the Apollo 11 Landing in July 1969.

The patch of Apollo 8

Believe it or not, Apollo 8 was also the most dangerous of the Apollo missions to the moon. All of the future missions took with them a lunar module (the spider bit that landed on the moon) while Apollo 8 simply took a test device of the same weight. During Apollo 13, the lunar module ended up being used as a life raft for power.

The astronauts of Apollo 8 achieved a speed of 10,822 metres per second (38,959 Km per hour) during their trip to the moon.

They also took the following legendary photo:

Earthrise Photograph by Bill Anders on December 24, 1968

Lets home Obama doesn’t pull the plug on the moon visits planned for 2020.

More information on Apollo 8 is available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8.

I logged into HSBC internet banking today. In fact, I tried to log into HSBC internet banking today….

The message reads:

When will companies start using proper, cross browser supported javascript and W3C compliant HTML?

I guess they do have one thing in their favour, they recommended firefox!

I’ve never had any trouble finding where to set the default application for a specific file, but it took me a while to find out how to set it for an entire file type.

To set the default application for a single file you simply select the file, right click it, select “Open with” and then select “Other”.

Select Other to be able to define the default application for a single file

You will now see a window similar to the one below.

You can now select the application you want to open it with. Finally select the “Always open with” checkbox and click open.

This file (and only this file) will now open with the new default application.

If you want to set an entire file type to open with a new default application, select one of the files and either press Command+I or right click and select “Get Info”. You should see something resembling the following.

Scroll down to the section “Open with” and expand it if required. Select the application from the list – If it’s not there you can once again select “Other” and go through the process of finding the application. Once you have the correct application selected in the list, simply click “Change All” and this will change default application for all files of that type.

Apple recently released an update to Mac OS X 10.5.6

I have a Macbook pro with everything standard except for 4GB of RAM. I was currently running OS X 10.5.5 and thought the update would be somewhat trivial.

To cut a long story short, the install kept freezing at the start of the update saying “Configuring Installation”.

I found no disk errors and after a few more attempts gave up on this upgrade method.

I decided to try the manual standalone method and downloaded the (668MB) combo update from Apple’s website (I never bothered to try the standard update).

Mission Accomplished!

So if you’re having the same problem, try the standalone updater, available from http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macosx1056update.html.

I saw this outside the Mile End tube station in East London.

It reads:
“GET DRUNK, VOMIT IN PUBLIC & YOU’LL BE FINED £80.”
“Cutting Crime TOGETHER”

I guess it does it’s job, it gets your attention.

This was the state of one of CBS’ electronic signs at Liverpool street tube station today. I took the photo just before 3pm.

It was still like this three hours later at 6pm.

I wonder who is paying for the spot at the moment.

I was unable to get a photo of the moon on friday – London has had overcast skies constantly since around noon on Friday.

Maybe next time…

Did anyone else manage to get one?

Remember that the moon will be very close to earth tonight  and a full moon.

In London the moon will be rising late and overhead at around midnight. If you only have a view to the west (like me) you will need to wait until around 2:30 am Saturday morning.

I wrote a post earlier in the week about taking photos of it to compare the relative size of the moon during it’s orbit.

I tried to get my hands on a T Mount for my camera to take photos through my telescope but ran out of time so will have to make do with my trusty 300mm lens.

The BBC have written a story about the moon too. You can find the story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7779294.stm.