Chatter Of The Squirrel

Find A Grave

There’s a way to find ANYTHING on the internet nowadays…

For example, if you wanted to know that Alfred Hitchcock was cremated and had his ashes scattered, you can find out about that here, at http://www.findagrave.com

You can put in a search for any dead celebrity you want. You can see HP Lovecraft’s tombstone. Or the final resting place of Anna Nicole Smith, after all the media nonsense.
What’s the market for this service? Maybe you can read the Wiki for a clue.

But it’s an interesting legacy to leave behind… “I developed a system so that the whole world can see the tombstone of any dead celebrity they want.”

I doubt that these guys will ever get an offer from Google and become millionaires. But it’s an interesting service nonetheless.

Bidoof

WHY THE @#$%^ HELL IS THERE A WIKI ENTRY ON A POKEMON ??!!!!!!!!!!!!

GPSMap 60Cs

I had a GPSMap 76 last year. Then I sold it to an amateur pilot for RM700+. Meant to replace it with a newer model some time.
Last Sunday, I met up with a buyer from Ipoh, and I bought a replacement GPS.

The guy was letting go his GPSMap60CS, having replaced it with the newer GPSMap60CSx. Came with a belt clip, a pouch, the data cable and the Garmin mapping software.

The difference with the CSx version, is that it comes with a memory card slot, so you can store more maps, and it uses the latest SiRF3 chipset which is capable of greater accuracy (up to 3-5 metres) and able to read a signal even under moderate canopy and in between buildings.

But a CSx costs RM1400 at the cheapest I could source. I’m happy enough with a very new looking, second hand GPSMap 60Cs for just RM700.

In my previous blog, I had mentioned some of the features in this model. But it was way better than I had expected.

A push of the “Find” button, look under Cities, key in Kuantan, and the unit calculated a route that will take me there.

Before every turn, the unit will give me a warning beep, and tell me to “Keep Left” etc. Then the map will zoom in to the intersection, and large white arrows show me what turn to take.

But even with this, I took a wrong turn and missed the Karak Highway, and ended up on the wrong road. Not a big problem, I can circle round back again… Then I noticed the device started recalculating, and within moments, it gave me a new route to Kuantan.

It took me on the old windy road up and down the mountains towards Bentong. The road is absurdly narrow and treacherous, little wonder that it has killed so many. With the Karak highway running, this road has fallen into further disrepair, and landslides are taking away more and more of the road each day.

The CS model also came with sensors: bearing, and altimeter / barometer. They’re pretty cool on the Karak highway on the way back. With the logging and graphing functions, I could see how the roads climbed and descended. Nice feature to have when you go climbing.

The Sunrise/Moonrise feature is fun to have too. Then there’s a best fishing/hunting time feature. Not sure how useful that’s gonna be.

Also came with a few GPS games. Like a virtual maze where you walk around to collect virtual flags displayed on a mini-map. Not something I foresee playing much of. Nor ANY of. Who wants to look like an escaped Alzheimer patient walking around in circles in a wide open space.

A brilliant purchase for RM700.

Blizzard News

http://www.starcraft2.com

Enough said.

Kuantan

Had the rest of the week off. Didn’t want to spend it hanging around KL.

So, packed some stuff, and my bike into the car and drove down to Kuantan. Great for testing out my new GPSMap60CS. Also to see what kind of mileage I can get on my car after the recent tuning efforts.

Made a wrong turn trying to get on the Karak Highway, and the GPS immediately recalculated a scenic route for me to continue my journey. And saving RM5 of toll at the same time.
I got to Kuantan easily. Highway travel was very soporific though. Especially when I forgot to bring my MP3 player, which I had prepared with a bunch of Blink 182 albums. Singing loudly and off-key helps keep me awake. With the added bonus of possibly summoning a good cooling rain. Forgetting the player was a terrible oversight.

But I made it to Kuantan safe. Spent a few hours at Teluk Chempedak Beach just watching the sea and the monkeys while waiting for Kuan to finish work and his badminton game.

Had shark meat for dinner. Lots of cool factor.