Posted on May 19th 2008 by Ryan.
Dell have released a new high tech pedestrian safety device. They are calling it the “Dell Inspiron 6000″. It features a hard outer casing and a protective LCD screen to take the brunt of any impacts pedestrians may face due to vehicular collisions.
I tested out this new device this morning. I placed it in my backpack and headed off to work, then whilst crossing the road a crazy women crashed into me from behind, sending me tumbling across her bonnet. I landed splat on my back on the road. My trusty Dell took the brunt of the impact and I was able to stand up unscathed 
The only injury I have is a sprained ankle which wasn’t protected by my computer. And guess what! The computer is still working and I’m posting this message on it right now
Apparently the little green man was indeed flashing when I crossed and the lady who hit me is in a whole lot of trouble. She will probably be charged with careless driving or careless driving causing injury. My computer will live for another day - and thankfully so will I!
EDIT: Thanks to my cousin Alison Petrie for the following photos (she saw it happen).
There were two ambulances, a fire truck and two police cars. Kinda overkill for an itty bitty test of a new safety device, but anyhows …
The woman on the right is the one who drove into me.
EDIT: It also turned out that I was badly bruised behind me knee. The woman who hit me lost her drivers license for six months and was fined for $250 for her failed efforts to remove me from the gene pool.
Posted on Apr 29th 2008 by Ryan.
My blog was being over run by various softwares, themes etc. I’d written. Plus the blog format of this site didn’t lend itself too well to replying to support questions, so I’ve moved all of my web development posts over to a new site called PixoPoint Web Development. It features a forum instead of blog comments to allow for better organisation of questions, suggestions and advice.
I’ll eventually remove all of the old posts here (which now redirect to the new site), but I’ve left them here for the mean time in case someone comes looking for them.
Posted on Mar 24th 2008 by Ryan.
Our 500 MHz NMR machine quenched itself today 
Here is an awful quality photo I took of the aftermath.
To make things worse, our other machine (300 MHz one) has been out of action since late last year, so we now have no NMR access whatsoever … for any non-chemists out there, this is bad, VERY bad!
MRI Quenching
I did some YouTubing and found this video of an MRI machine quenching itself (MRI and NMR are very similar instruments).
Liquid Helium
The NMR machine was full of liquid helium. The quenching involved the liquid helium evaporating very rapidly. Here’s a video about the properties of liquid helium and a video of a liquid helium fountain.
Posted on Feb 12th 2008 by Ryan.
I’m out of action from playing sports at the moment due to my silly shoulder popping it’s self out of the socket again But the chemistry department soccer team said they were usually short of female players so I dragged along Becky Brassett to help them out. The games are played 9 a side on a field hockey turf. Here are some photos I took at the game.
Aggression
Here are some demonstrations of why NOT to play soccer on a sand turf!
First up, Graeme trying to get the ball by running through his opposition.
Next up, a girl from the opposing team wipes out quite spectacularly trying to change directions.
This aint track and field …
Graeme … WTF?
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Posted on Nov 23rd 2007 by Ryan.
The field hockey team I usually play for (The Soft Sticks) had no opposition at our last game. So they played a game amongst themselves while I took some piccies from the shade on the sideline - I’m still recovering from a dislocated shoulder. The temperatures were searing (26 deg. C I think) so there were some very hot looking pink hockey players by the end of their game.
Mallory Handcock (left) and Natasha Munro (right)
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Posted on Nov 6th 2007 by Ryan.
I was/am supposed to be playing for the Soft Sticks field hockey team. Except I decided to dislocate my shoulder last week instead 
The opposition for the day were ‘Out 2 Score’. Unfortunately my batteries were running on empty so I couldn’t load up the LCD screen to change the ISO settings/exposures so the pictures are all messed up and then it ran totally flat after only taking a few shots Hopefully I’ll get some better shots next time.
Our mighty team manager leading the charge to the front
Kara stomping her way down the boards, er, pipe … whatever that black tube thingy is called
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Posted on Oct 27th 2007 by Ryan.
Some photos from my parents 35th Wedding Anniversary. Thanks to Scott and Marthah for organising everything and eventually remembering to invite me The lighting was utter crap so the photos are a bit blurry.
My Mum (Joan Hellyer) and Dad (Ken Hellyer) posing for the camera.
The cake. It was a carrot one and tasted damn nice!
Siblings: Robyn Reid, Ken Hellyer, David Hellyer and John Hellyer. Or as I know them, Aunty Robyn, Dad, Uncle David and Uncle John.
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Posted on Oct 26th 2007 by Ryan.
Miriam Schwab, the owner of one of my favourite websites WordPress Garage, has published an article of mine on integrating WordPress blogs with your FaceBook profile.
My article is here … Finding the perfect Facebook-WordPress system
The solution that I am using is now Simply RSS, rather than WordBook which I mentioned in a previous post.
Posted on Oct 1st 2007 by Ryan.
Our uber awesome, wonderful and truly incredible professional ice hockey coach Jenel Bode is leaving Hopefully she’ll be back next year though
Rhyan McMillan and our uber awesome coach Jenel Bode
For her goodbye bash, she organised a goodbye party in a cave at Longbeach. It sounded boring, getting stuck in a cave all evening on a cold, wet, rainy day Luckilly Sarah was heading out to take Jane so I hitched a ride along so I could make an appearance and bail home early with Sarah. Darn glad I went though, coz it was totally awesome. The cave was wicked, the fire kept us all cosy warm, everyone had fun and there was loads of entertainment provided by my teammates who provided firebreathing, guitar and flame throwing demonstrations for us all. There were even baby blue penguins in the back of the cave hanging out with us!
Neil Dudley and Rob Owens demonstrating how much effort it takes to burn human skin
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Posted on Sep 30th 2007 by Ryan.
After playing a round at Stewarts Gully Mini Golf, the Beasts found other ways to stay amused, including swinging and tandem bike riding aroung the golf course.
Jane Soper providing amusement to the team by swinging towards a tree at full pelt
Neil Dudley doing a jig while Rob Owens learns why Jane Soper was so scared on the swing
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