Moral Fibre Magazine

Where have all the science nerds gone?

SheBee — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:46:02 +0000

Mike from Ionian Enchantment emailed me a few weeks ago to ask where all the science nerds are, and to be honest – I hung out with the cheerleaders at school, I’m a complete noob when it comes to all things nerdy, so I couldn’t actually answer him.

Other than listing a few sciency-type personal blogs that I read from time to time [like this one] I didn’t know where to start looking, so we decided together that we’d hunt for them instead. Read this post written by Mike this morning. If you or anyone else you know the answer, drop a line below and let us know where to find you!

K that’s all from me for now.

PS: Don’t forget to vote for your favourite nerd in our final round here.

Review: Powertime for iPhone

minnaarpieters — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:39:00 +0000

Many South Africans have been in that sucky situation where your power goes out late at night, and you have to somehow find a way to buy prepaid electricity. This usually necessitates a trip to the nearest shop or garage which requires you to pay cash…. Blah, blah blah, you know the drill.

I have recently been shown a new app called Powertime which installs on your iPhone and enables you to buy electricity at any time of day, and for any electricity meter you have registered with them. When you go to the Powertime website, you register your electricity meter (you can register more than one as well), with some of your details. You also register your credit card, and then you fax them a copy of your credit card and your ID book. And that is the only “work” from your end (this is still less work than the numerous trips to the shop and back…).

Once registered, you install the Powertime app on your phone. The Powertime app will ask your username and password everytime, for security reasons. From there, select the credit card you would like to use, and which meter you would like to pay for. The registered meters have a neat dropdown list, with their actual addresses, so its easy enough to use. Then you enter the amount, and that’s it. Within a few seconds it pops up the token code that you can enter into your meter. Great.

While these types of solutions have existed on the web for quite some time in SA, this is the first mobile implementation that I have come across that is so polished and easy to use. Where every other site is exercise in frustration, Powertime is quick and easy to use. Proof that there are some great iPhone developers in South Africa… I came across a few small bugs, and the developers (4i Software) let me know that the new version is on its way within the next month with new features (for example SMS a token to someone etc).

Highly recommended.

PS: Powertime is only available in the SA Appstore, so you have to make sure you have a SA Appstore account. If you using a US account, it is easy enough to switch between the two, even right on your iPhone. From the Appstore app, select “Featured” and scroll down to the bottom of the page. From there you can sign in and out into different iTunes accounts. When in the SA Appstore, simply search for Powertime.

New Facebook Layout

JuicyJustin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:37:18 +0000

Facebook launched their new layout in stages across the world. Whilst many have ridiculed the change, which is often the case when people face change, many have also praised the change. Myself being one of them.

I believe the latest change is a case of form follows function, and clearly shows that Facebook are moving more towards making the site easier and more accessible. With the new changes, I find everything is on one page, and find myself doing less navigation around the page. With normal human behaviour, we read left to right. Previously the notifications, which generally are the first things we look for, were located in the bottom right, the very last thing you read. That annoyed me, so I am very happy to see that they have now moved the notifications to the top left of the screen, being the first part of the page you see and read. Perhaps not too noticeable at first though, but once you know they are there, you will see the benefit.

Other things that have changed include the news feed. Before it had News Feed and Live Feed and in my mind I cannot fathom the use of the News Feed as the updates were simply not in any order, neither by time nor by popularity. With the new additions, you get Top News which is the most active updates and Most Recent which is clearly the latest posts and updates from your friends. much more simpler.

Under the new “Account” tab at the top, you will find all links to profile settings and information, providing much better access to this once reasonably well-hidden information. Also, on the left pane, you will notice a direct link to your profile.

Overall I think the new design is great, it may not look like an award design, but that is not Facebook’s intention nor purpose. If you don’t like Facebook’s design, head on over to MySpace and see how well their design works. Let’s face it, it actually doesn’t matter in the least what Facebook looks like, because the reality is that you simply won’t stop using it. You love it too much. You’re addicted. And the way it works, well, it simply works and achieves exactly what it set out to do. To make sure they you keep up to date with the goings on in your friends’ lives.

The Nerdies Finals.

SheBee — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:14:39 +0000

Firstly, thank you all for your patience. It’s been a winded stretch this year, and thank goodness for it or I wouldn’t have been able to cope with the huge response we’ve had this year.

Click the links below to vote for The Nerdies 2010 winners:

Girls

Guys

I’m very chuffed to see that last years winners Cow_grrrl & AndreVR are both in for the running again.
ChrisM and NickHuntDavis went all out for campaigning with their parents even voting for them. If that’s not nerdy I don’t know what is.

So as you can see this last & final round is voting by poll only. The campaign closes on Friday at 12 and we will then determine this years winners who stand a chance of winning some of the following:

EightySix have offered one years free hosting plus a .co.za domain to both finalists
Joyanne is offering a couples photoshoot [sadly, this is only for Capetonians - we're hoping to get a JHB offer too - so come on photog's out there!] which includes a disk of 50 edited photos.
MerylPixelMagic has designed us one FANTASTIC logo, you can see it above
Alerting The Media will hook us up with some Mowali & Sterkinekor merchandise for the top 20 finalists
Jeanette Verster Photography aka @Jenty has matched @Joyanne’s offer to the Jhb segment of our winners
5fm Radio Station has come forward with Hampers for each of our two winners
HyperText Media Communications have kindly put forth subscriptions to Connect Magazine for one whole year!
Poken Africa – NerdMag branded pokens for the winners & a few spot prize categories
CraigN has donated 1 x Springleap shirt to the spot prize category of his choice
R150 Kalahari voucher from Beetle001
R150 Kalahari voucher from Glugster
DimitriouA has sent us an iTunes gift card to the value of 30 USD
Springleap have kindly given us 5 tee’s PLUS a 30% discount to anyone who nomnoms or gets nomnomed – all you need to do to claim the coupon for the discount is mail me and I’ll send it to ya
Nick Hunt Davis has kindly offered to custom design [in Wordpress] the two domains up for grabs
Obox have offered up one of their premium theme designs to the winning category of Redesign Nerd – a person who is forever moaning about their site design and saying they need to change it.
Chopman has offered two more Pokens to go into the mix of spot prizes. I think these should be awarded to most generous bidder & funniest nomnomination.

So is the iPad a computer for Mom? Not really.

minnaarpieters — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:23:00 +0000

So what is my opinion on the iPad? Well first off, I do like it. Despite all its shortcomings, I think it might be a game changing device.

I read somewhere that iPhone should be renamed the iPad Nano. And that might be a very apt description, seeing as the iPad is actually very similar to the iPhone. Unless Apple pulls something out of the hat (more on that later), there is not much more that a iPad can do that the iPhone cannot. And the iPhone is smaller and more portable. So why would anyone want a iPad?

I tried to think where an iPad might fit into my lifestyle. I have a smartphone and a small laptop. I take my iPhone everywhere, and I take my macbook to work and back home home again. I honestly cannot see where I would use the “third device” Apple is talking about. I really think a netbook sized macbook would have suited me better.

The iPad does not have multitasking, it doesn’t have USB ports, it only runs apps in the closed appstore and the device cannot transfer files (like documents and photos) to and fro like every other computer on the planet (unless you email them or use a tool like dropbox). It runs the iPhone OS, instead of a full fledged operating system like Mac OSX. With a list like this you start wondering what it really does?
And here we come to that magic (frustrating) Apple formula – it might leave out some functionality, but the things that it does do, it does beautifully.

The iPad makes using a computer dead easy to use. After watching all the interface videos (I recommend iLounge’s) it is pretty clear that many apps we use every day has been made simpler and more easy to use than before. Even something as boring as email is a graphically rich app on the iPad. Looking at photos using the pinch gestures are brilliantly simple. The calendar app makes outlook look archaic. If you take into account what the average user does on a computer these days, it is pretty clear what the iPad is aiming to do. It is rethinking the way we use computers.

Take for example the average computer user – the person who reads emails, browses the web and types the occasional document. He might also watch movies, listen to music and want something to organize his life. All of these are functions that are perfectly controlled by the stable and mature apps we use on computers today. Then why on earth must the average user need to know about disk formatting, corrupt files, incompatible codecs, incompatible apps, defragmenting, hibernate, sleep, email server protocols, file formats, PST’s, drivers etc? Clearly what Apple is trying to do is make the computing experience as simple and elemental as possible. Perhaps the best analogy regarding the iPad’s simplicity is its similarity to modern cars. Twenty years ago, anyone with the know how could open up a car bonnet and service a car. These days, hardly anyone “tinkers” on their cars – every car is highly specialized that needs very specific proprietary equipment. True, there are always people who want to tinker, but they are quickly becoming the minority. Same with computers. People do not want to maintain their computers anymore; they just want to use their computer.

While you might not agree with this (lets face it, the average reader of this article probably has a big interest in technology and love to play around with their computer), Apple is trying to alter people’s mind-sets about computing. Everything is simpler – and the biggest change to the average consumer will be the appstore. Think about it – instead of searching for an app online, and then downloading it, and then installing it (with a possible hiccup somewhere) the user will fire up the appstore and just choose the app they want. That’s it.

So, if the iPad becomes popular, users of computers might eventually be dumbed down right? Probably not.
One must not forget that the iPad is a secondary device. If you do not have a main computer somewhere, the iPad becomes pretty boring. You cannot put your movies, music and photo libraries on the device without a computer. True, you can buy your movies and music from iTunes, but that’s only new music you want.
This might be my biggest criticism of the iPad – it is not really a device you use on its own. It still needs a host to sync to, a mothership to use properly. It currently seems like the iPad will sync with a folder on its host machine, and this will be the primary method in which you will transfer files. No flash disks, no Bluetooth, etc. Why Apple made the iPad without a USB port is beyond me.

And therein lies the rub – you will never quite rid people from the more technical aspects of using a computer. Think about it – to use the device effectively you need to have some knowledge about things like video codecs, syncing of email servers, caldav for syncing of calendars etc. If Apple wanted to truly make computing simple, it needs to address this.

However, my biggest criticism has to go to the lack of multitasking. I want to be able to do two things at once on a computer. Lack of multitasking on my phone I can live with. But multitasking is something we have been used to for a very long time. I really hope that Apple enables multitasking on the next version of iPhone OS. Without multitasking I really cannot see how people will take this seriously as a computing device.

But what I must keep reminding myself is that this a device that will only show its true colours once developers start making great apps for it. Just like the iPhone at first, it is currently a blank canvas of potential, and knowing Apple they will probably make us all rethink the way we use computers.

Motherfudd 2010

Levon Rivers — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:19:20 +0000

Chromium at Motherfudd in 09

Motherfudd has been one of SA’s most awesome metal festivals for a few years now, I remember going to my first one to see my friends Breach who had travelled up from Grahamstown for the opportunity way back in 2005. I have been back just about every year since. Another great one was seeing my fave band Visus when they had their first opportunity to play back in 2007, one of their best gigs back in the day!

Visus at Motherfudd 07

Anyway, I digress. This year, Motherfudd isn’t going for the big crowds – they are rather deciding to limit tickets to a select 1500 (which will still be far more than enough for some awesome moshpits I am sure!) Speaking of pits, the Guinness Book of World Records will be on hand as Motherfudd is going for the most people simultaneously headbanging (this seems quite strange to me, as any overseas festival could kill 1500 people headbanging simultaneously in a heartbeat, but kudos to Motherfudd for drawing some publicity!)

Gadabout killing it in the sun back in 07

So here are the important details for this year:
Facebook Event – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=227995871693
Dates: 12-14 March 2010
Price: R220 from https://www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?itemid=1356300
Venue: Malonjeni Guest Farm (Half hour from Alberton)

Beer and Metal. That’s living.

All the normal stuff can be expected, such as awesome camping grounds, clean bathrooms and hot showers, tons of food stalls, flea market, medics, security and much more (such as game drives – lol – and BMX tracks and skate ramps).

Epic lighting at last year’s Motherfudd

Finally, what we all want to hear about, the bands! 21 bands in all, including some killer bands such as Chromium and Agro. Check the flyer below for the whole lineup.

Vikings!

Anyway, be prepared for some awesome lighting and stage setup, and go drink some beer and support SA metal! Steeeeellll!!!!!

My Different Styles of Painting

jonnydawn — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:15:19 +0000

Drawing portraits is one of my skills since I was a kid. I am an art lover and I always admire. I did various styles in in doing my paintings but the one that I preferred pencil painting. Detailed are the strokes and the difference in colors are only in the shades of black and gray.

One of my favorite parts of the body that I like to draw is the face. Facial expressions can communicate a thousand images and shows various moods. Of course the most expressive of all is the eyes, which shows the window of the soul. Even in painting, one can express an enormous amount of emotion just by sketching the eyes. The mouth also can provide the portrait with the needed energy in projecting what its disposition.

The body is also challenging because of the curves and the lightning needed. For an artist, it must something already defined on his thought before doing the work. There are also instances when a painting needs vibrant and the only thing that can project it is simply color. Like me, I always wanted to do pet portraits such as dog portrait which also makes its mark on my list of favorite types of painting by its simple style of free flowing style. Also the tools that one needs to use especially the pigments are very cheap. You only need to mix it with water and paint it on paper or canvas.

Painting architecture, landscape and some botanical subjects are good themes in watercolor because of its liveliness. Painting in watercolor seems to always float on air and has the light feeling. Pop art is a new art movement that is now has a very strong following since it emerged in 50’s. It is like isolating a mass-produced object and injecting it to a new background and other objects. There are many applications of this new visual art. My paintings like dog portraits are taking a hit these days and people from various walks of life alike surely know various types of arts in our daily lives. Traditional painting is dull to some sometimes, because it is just like a copy of something real; whereas in pop art culture, portraits are seems to be more interactive and gives out other interpretation. This kind of art is surely so diffusive that it is widely utilized in advertising and marketing and more and more artists are practicing it now not just for arts purposes.

MotherFUDD 2010 – A new world record.

Scream — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:45:12 +0000

HEADBANG TODAY WILL BE FEATURING AND CHATTING TO ALL THE BANDS THAT WILL BE PERFORMING AT MOTHERFUDD 2010! WATCH THIS SPACE!

INSTRAMETAL INTERVIEWED

MotherFUDD 2010 Official and final press release.

MotherFUDD, South Africa’s renowned metal festival is proud to announce that they will be hosting the first ever Official Guinness World Record for the “Most People Headbanging Simultaneously” at the seventh annual MotherFUDD – The Gathering 2010 on 13 March 2010.

Motherfudd is extremely proud to fly this exciting and unusual flag as it will not only spotlight the massive following metal music and has in this country but also that this epic event will take place on South African soil.

The bands under Mother’s care this year are: Agro, All Forlorn, Architecture of Aggression, Bile of Man, Chromium, Emperium, Erebus, Fragmented Children, H aggis & Bong, Instrametal, Juggernaught, Loathe, Mazaru, Nighthawk, Reverend Henry Kane, Red Helen, Riddare av Koden, Rhütz, Sacrifist, Sathern and Stigmata Dawn.

MORE INFO: http://www.headbangtoday.com/v2/2010/02/motherfudd-201…-press-release/

Metal News – 4 Feb

Levon Rivers — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:49:31 +0000

Devildriver – Another Night In London music video – http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/devildriver/london/

Slash's solo album cover and track listing – http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=134382

Fear Factory – Fear Campaign video – http://www.metalinjection.net/tv/view/4428/fear-factory-fear-campaign-video

The Grammys and metal – http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/slash-embarasses-2010-grammy-recap-metal-edition

As I Lay Dying announce new album title (produced by Adam D) – http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=134380

Dez from Devildriver getting pissed off at security – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZtLs3KK17c&feature=player_embedded

eBucks has raised R200,000 for Haiti thus far

vincenthofmann — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:51:51 +0000

On 12 January, 2010 a series of earthquakes with magnitudes ranging between 6.5 and 7.3 devastated the Haitian capitol of Port au Prince. The aftermath of the disaster has claimed hundreds-of-thousands of lives; and damages to the country’s infrastructure has left many more individuals homeless and destitute.

eBucks members wishing to assist those affected by this devastating catastrophe, can do so by making a donation – either using their eBucks or rands – to Doctors without Borders and / or Gift of the Givers

Foundation – via the eBucks website.
Donations from eB250 or R25 will support much needed emergency relief and recovery efforts, and help the Haitian people reclaim their country and begin to rebuild their lives.

To date almost eB2 million has already been donated.

For more information visit https://www.ebucks.com/web/shop/categorySelected.do?catId=123997925

ABOUT DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

Doctors Without Borders is an international relief organisation which provides medical support and medical personnel who specialise in disaster and famine relief, wherever they are required.

ABOUT GIFT OF THE GIVERS

Gift of the Givers Foundation supplies disaster management and medical support throughout the world. It is an international foundation and a South African team is already operational in Haiti since the disaster.