Damn Sony

Over the last few days, the headphones I use with my iPod have stopped working (the right earpiece no longer makes any noise), so today I went looking for a new set. The store I went to had a large shelf full of headphones, but most of them looked like cheap crappy things. In the end I reluctantly decided on a pair of Sony headphones for about 3000 yen that looked like they'd last more than a few days and had a cable that reached from the pocket I keep my iPod in to my ears.

I was reluctant to buy Sony because they've done some rather bad things to customers over the last year or so. Malware on CDs that can help computer virii hide on your computer and mess up the drivers on your computer and the following response when found out, the continual fumbling with the PS3, and others I can't think of of the top of my head have made me decide that I wouldn't give my money to Sony.

I haven't really kept to that, because there have been things I've wanted and bought without bothering to check who made them, and only found out after that Sony was involved in making it (Mirrormask is a good example). Today, the Sony headphones seemed the best out of a poor showing.

I was terribly disappointed when I started using the headphones. The sound quality is terrible, and I needed to turn the volume right up to be able to hear what I was listening to. The sound is tinny, and none of the equalizer settings helped out much. I'm thinking of getting another set once my advance comes through in the next few days.

I may even fork out 4500 yen for a set of apple headphones, as the set that came with my iPod were quite good, and lasted for a lot longer than most headphones do.

End Post
Writing time: 13 minutes
Time since last post: 30 minutes
Current media: still more Stargate Atlantis

Growing Hair

It's been a little over two weeks since my hair got shaved to within a millimetre or two of my scalp. At that time, I looked almost like a skinhead, and I was a bit concerned that the company I work for would think I'd gone to far in the other extreme (They had already told me I would have to cut my hair before showing up for work in Japan). However it's grown relatively quickly, and is maybe almost a centimetre long now so it's no longer at the point where I can grow facial hair longer than the hair on my head (trust me, it looks terrible when the hair on your head is shorter than the hair on your face).

If my hair continues to grow at this rate, it should look almost normal around Christmas time, and I may have to get at least one haircut before my contract is finished. Once I'm done though, I don't plan to cut it again for a while (After the next eight years I'm just going to get a regular haircut though, none of this no 2 blade stuff).

End Post
Writing time: 15 minutes
Time since last post: 20 minutes
Current media: still Stargate Atlantis

They Really Should Know Better

Yet another example of some engrish, this time at a place that really should know better. At this place, one can make use of the Malti Media center.

And where did I see this shining example of engrish. At work. That's right, the school that teaches English has a misspelled sign. I think I'll mention it on Thursday when I have my next shift. It really doesn't do much for the reputation of the school.

End Post
Writing time: 5 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: Stargate Atlantis Season 1

Addicted?

Since I've been in Japan, I've drunk coke a bit more frequently than I used to (just a bit, I'd already got back on the softdrink wagon a while ago, but with coke instead of pepsi). During the week though I got a few really bad headaches. At first I thought it may have just been that I was eating on a different schedule, which can sometimes do that. Yesterday, the headache was really bad, and was still around a little this morning.

This morning, since I have had a few bad experiences with getting what I thought was water from a vending machine (I'm not even going to risk trying the one labeled Pocarri Sweat), I went back to having a coke. A while after this I noticed that my headache was almost completely gone. I had another coke with lunch, and although the I still have the headache, it's only a minor thing which should be gone in the morning.

After I noticed this, I got thinking and realised that the days that I had the headaches were the days I decided not to drink coke. So this has me wondering, is japanese coke that much more addictive? I don't think I'm drinking more than I did in Australia, and going without for a few days there didn't trigger terrible headaches. And I think I had some coke last night and it didn't ease the problem.

I think I'll have a coke tomorrow just in case

End Post
Writing time: 17 minutes
Time since last post: 50 minutes
Current media: Serenity

Engrish On A Plane

Since I didn't get a chance to see it while I was in Australia, I may try and see Snakes Flight while it's showing over here

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Writing time: 1 minute
Time since last post: 1 minute
Current media: Rowen Atkinson Live

Illiterate again

One thing that is different about being in Japan is not being able to read much. Most signs are in Japanese, forms are in Japanese, newspapers and magazines are in Japanese, TV is in Japanese, and most other things are not surprisingly, in Japanese. This means that I am unable to do certain things I took for granted back in Australia.

For example today I got a commuter pass for the train I catch to and from work. To do this, I needed to fill out a form. If someone from work hadn't given me a copy with what I need to put in each space, I would not known how to fill it out.

Opening up a bank account was a similar situation, although for that I had the mishap of forgetting my hanko, so I had to make two trips.

I am fortunate that all the train stations are labeled in kanji, hiragana and English. I've heard that as little as three years ago, this was not the case. The signs are also quite comprehensive, with guides to where to go to transfer between lines, between train types (hankyu to subway, or hankyu to monorail, for example). So far I have not had any troubles catching trains.

Restaurants are OK, as most have either menus in English or menus with pictures on them, or both, and you can get away with just pointing at what you want. The only problem is I don't know how to ask what something is if I don't know what it is.

Anyway, in summary, the language problem is annoying, but not really a major burden.

End Post
Writing time: 26 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: Rowen Atkinsons Live

Lookout

It would appear that giant insects are attacking Germany.

End Post
Writing time: 1 minute
Time since last post: 5 minutes
Current media: none

First real day

Today was my first real day of work. I got to the office OK, and the people seem nice. There is a very angry Australian there, but the rest seem normal.

My day was pretty easy, I got a free lesson to start with and I only had one or two people in each lesson. Most of the lessons were higher level students, but there was one low level student. The higher level students don't need to have me simplify my words as much, although I still need to work on that.

So far, things seem to be going OK.

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Writing time: 2 minutes
Time since last post: 1 day
Current media: none

Thorpedo Water

This is a little old but I've been busy over the last few days, so a few posts are going to follow this one quite quickly.

Last Friday when I was wondering around Toyanaka looking for the city office to register as an alien I got a little thirsty and decided to get a bottle of water from one of the many, many vending machines around the place. So while I was pondering my choices, I noticed on of the bottles was labeled "Thorpedo" and had a picture of Ian Thorpe on it. So, I decided to support my countryman and bought the drink.

Now I was thinking that this was just some bottled water, so I was unpleasantly surprised when instead of nice pure water it tasted like some horrible, really flat lemonade. This was not what I wanted.

I'm curious if Ian Thorpe has actually even tasted this drink, and is not just letting them use his name and picture for money without a care for what it's used for. I mean, this stuff really tastes foul.

End Post
Writing time: 15 minutes
Time since last post: 4 days
Current media: The Daily Show

More Engrish

I saw this one at a book store that has a moderate english selection. In the science fiction part, they had some Star Treck books. This is pretty amazing as the Star Trek books with the correct spelling were right there for them to check the spelling.

End Post
Writing time: 2 minutes
Time since last post: 2 minutes
Current media: Battlestar Galactica season 2 soundtrack

Hair cut

At the going away party that was held Saturday before last (the 16th) I got my head shaved. Nova had said I had to have a haircut before I started working for them, and for quite some time, I had said that when I finally did get a haircut, it would be all the way. So I stuck to what I had said and got my head shaved. I got one of my housemates to do it, as he had shaved his head a few times before. The following are some of the photos with commentary, and then some thoughts on the matter.


The first cut is always the deepest.


work in progress

The ponytail

After getting a hairdresser to neaten things up.

OK, so there wasn't much commentary.

Since then it has grown back faster than I thought it would (although it may just be that when your hair is only a few millimetres long another millimetre looks like a lot). It'll be a while before I need to comb it or anything, but it no longer feels like a bald head. It also looks a lot darker than it did while it was long, but will probably look brown again when it gets longer.

One bit of advice, and this is with all due respect to Justin, make sure the person shaving your head doesn't get in to the drinks before the head shaving.

End Post
Writing time: 35 minutes
Time since last post: 3 days
Current media: Battlestar Galactica season 2 soundtrack

Engrish Ahoy

So far while in Japan I've picked up a few instances of Engrish. The first was at the airport where there was an ad for "fine groumet food". Today while wondering around Osaka, I saw an optometrist offering "freams, lens, and cleaning fluid". More will be reported as I encounter them.

Edit: 10:23 22/9/06 I just bothered typing up the third example I remembered a while ago. One the toilet each day after the cleaner has been in my room the toilet has a strip of paper telling me the toilet has been sanitarized.

Edit: 20:30 23/9/06 At the train station I had the choice of getting a single trip ticket or buying a commutation ticket.

End Post
Writing time: 5 minutes
Time since last post: 1 day
Current media: nothing much

Coup in Thailand

As mentioned previously, earlier today there was a coup in Thailand. The following is a sort of response to this and some thoughts on the events leading up to it.

First up, I've been periodically keeping an eye on the news in Thailand thanks to wikinews, which has a relatively high amount of news from countries which other news sources tend to neglect like Thailand. Thus I have been following the story of Prime Minister Thaksin and his governments fall into disfavour.

The situation has it's roots in Thaksin's apparent use of his power as Prime Minister for his personal and family gain. Thaksin and his family were major shareholders in one of Thailand's big telecommunications companies, and just before they sold out to a foreign company the tax law was changed so that the profit they made from the sale was much larger than it would have been before the change. This is the most blatant of Thaksin's acts and the one that brought a great amount of pressure on his government.

To try and defuse the situation, Thaksin decided to call an early election, hoping to get a new mandate from the people to continue to lead the Thai government. Unfortunately for him, the two main opposition parties boycotted the election because they believed it would be run unfairly by Thaksin. Thus even though Thaksin's party ran unopposed in a large number of electorates, they did not get a large proportion of the vote. Lots of people didn't vote. In Thailand, voters have the choice of voting for none of the candidates, and where a candidate doesn't get a certain share of the total vote, they won't be elected even if they have the most votes (I can't remember if this only applies to electorates with only one candidate). This happened in a number of electorates, leaving Thaksin in a bind as to form a new government requires a meeting of the full parliament, which at the time didn't exist because some electorates didn't have an elected representative.

Since then, the Thai courts have decided that the election was invalid and that a new one, with the opposition parties involved was to be held in around October.

This brings us pretty much up to today, where this morning the head of the military sent some tanks (14 according to the wikipedia article) in to Bangkok to surround the main government offices and take captive the deputy prime minister. Thaksin was out of the country (at a UN meeting) and will doubtless be staying away for some time.

The military leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin issued a statement to the Thai population after he had siezed control (you can read it thanks to the BBC), stating that the military control was only intended to be temporary and power will be returned to the democratic process as soon as possible. The same statement also prohibited gatherings of more than 5 people, and a few other things.

This is about the twenty-third attempted coup (I think about twelve of those were succesful) Thailand has had since the 1930s, which is a pretty high number. Most countries have had zero, and only a few have busted into double digits. Predictably, foreign responses have been negative, saying that democratic rule should be restores as soon as possible. News coverage has varied. I've been watching CNNj (the only english channel on the tv in my hotel) and the fact they've concentrated on is the subsequent drop in the value of the Thai Baht and the impact on the Thai economy. The BBC has had a more political view of the matter. There are also a few blogs from locals on events (here, here, and here).

The one factor I haven't mentioned yet, and will probably have a big effect on the outcome is the Thai king. He is apparently close with the general in charge of all this, and is a significant if indirect player in Thai politics. I think the stronger he is for a return to democracy, the quicker it will happen.

Now for some opinion. Military coups are bad. Very bad. Military rule has historically been bad for the country, bad for the people, but good for the few in charge. A military should be controlled by the people, and only used for the benefit of the people. Depriving the people of their liberty and elected government is not doing this. Also, constitutional change should not be done at the point of a gun. Independence sure, but once a country is established, violence should not be needed to enact such changes.

Also, most of the complaints have been against Thaksin and his government, and not against the current system of government, so there seems no justification for the way they have wiped the Thai political system clean (parliament, senate, high court, etc).

One reassuring point is that so far there has been no violence involved in the coup.

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Writing time: 2 hours 15 minutes (includes research time)
Time since last post: 0 days
Current media: Stargate SG-1

In the Land of the Rising Sun

I have arrrived in Japan, and am typing at Osaka Kanzai International Airport (KIX). The flights went ok, a few hassles along the way but nothing impossible to overcome. Now I'm just waiting for the people from the company to pick me up.

I've just found out that there has been a coup in Thailand, where my sister is currently living. While it seems to have gone peacefuly so far, I am a bit worried.

End Post
Writing time: 5 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: none

Change in counting

Looking at the last two posts I noticed I used a different method of counting the days to go. Hence the lack of consistency in the title posts.

End Post
Writing time: 1 minutes
Time since last post: 5 minutes

1 Day To Go

Tomorrow I fly to Japan. I've moved all my stuff over to my uncle's place, and today I'm cleaning the room, leaving it in a decent condition for whoever moves in.

On Saturday night I had a going away party. It wasn't huge, but a few friends came over and a generally goodtime was had. The big event was the cutting of my hair. Word of advice to everyone. Limit the alcohol consumption of the barber-to-be.

I'm a bit more daunted by this move than previous ones. It's not the distance, the not knowing anyone on the other end of the move. It's the not being sure of what I'm doing. Every other time I've moved there's been a certainty of purpose that's missing this time.

In any case, I'm going. What will happen, happens. I'll save as much as I can, enjoy the travelling after and then decide on what I want to do after that.

My initial thinking for after that was 1 more year of study to become a high school teacher, but through a podcast I listen to about a masters degree in Science and the Public at a university in the US, which sounds quite interesting, but funding it and my living expenses while there would need to be worked out.

Well, cleaning awaits.
End Post
Writing time: 40 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: Six Feet Under - Season 3

4 days to go

In 4 days I'm going to be moving to Japan. I'm not sure I'm one hundred percent ready for it. I know hardly any of the language. I'm not sure if I want to do it.

Well, it's a year at most. I've found out a few friends from university are also heading over to Japan soon, so I'll be able to see some people I know while I'm over there. That makes it a bit less daunting. I've also learnt that it's easy to get work teaching English, so if I find I don't like the company, it shouldn't be too hard to find work with another company, although accommodation would become an issue.

I think I'm mostly prepared to move my stuff to my uncles. Most things are packed up. Some clothes will probably get put in garbage bags for storage. I don't see much left to pack to store, but I think I need to rethink my packing to travel with.

I got Mum's laptop this evening, and have put on a few programs that I'll use a lot. iTunes, Firefox, Launchy, and a few others.

I also wrote up a will today. I used a will kit, and it's not very complicated. My sister gets everything. No flowers at the non-religious commemoration ceremony, and if my estate can afford it, my ashes are to be sent into outer space.

End Post
Writing time: 1 hour 13 minutes (less time spent getting witnesses for my will, talking with housemates, etc)
Time since last post: 1 day
Current media: Six Feet Under - Season 3

Adventures in eBay

As part of my packing up and moving process, I'm getting rid of some stuff. Mostly it's stuff that I packed into a box last time, and have not touched since then. Some has just been thrown out, some I've given to housemates and friends. Some I've tried to sell on eBay.

This has had mixed success. Two out of four items sold, one for the starting price and one for $1.50 over the starting price. I had thought I was being generous with the postage charges I specified when setting up the auctions. Unfortunately, one of my buyers was in Western Australia, and when comibing postage and packaging, I actually came out about 3 dollars down. Fortunately I was ahead on the other item that sold, so I'm not out of pocket overall. Next time I won't fix postage until I know where I'll have to send it.

I also now have to pay the listing fees, which now that I've found where they're listed, shouldn't be troublesome.

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Writing time:
Time since last post:
Current media:

Some notes on labels

With the whole consolidation of labels and other issues relating therein The following is a description of what most labels actually mean

Stuff: Things happening in my life. What I'm doing.
Thoughts: What I think about things.
Politics: Things involving governments at all levels
Work: Things regarding employment, and the search of
News: About things in the news. Usually goes with thoughts.
Death: Death
Rant: like thoughts, but a bit more angry
Romance: Usually introspection on the lack of romance in my life
Tech: Technology related things, computer games, podcasts, hardware, etc
Family: Things involving family
Rambling: like thoughts, put with less purpose and direction
Fiction: Fictional writing
Government: musing on the nature of government



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Writing time: 15 minutes
Time since last post: 0 days
Current media: Six Feet Under - Season 2

Blogger Labels

Yesterday I noticed that next to the dashboard on Blogger there was an option to convert my blog over to the Blogger 2.0 beta. Naturally, I couldn't resist. The chance to have a whole bunch of new features to play with and bits to toy around with is always going to get my attention.

One thing that got my interest was labels. A way to categorise posts. So I went through and added labels to a bunch of posts. These were mostly based on the technorati tags I had used on the entries. At the end of this first stage of labeling things, I wasn't entirely happy. For a start there were a bunch of labels that were only used once, the list looked really long, some of the labels were really just duplicates or subsets of others. So initially I tried to look to see if there were some setting I could set so that it would only show labels with a few posts. But such a setting doesn't exist. So I then looked at the html version of the template with the widgets expanded. It was a bit odd, but with some help files it's reasonably clear. So I tried putting a condition in that it would only display the labels with a count of more than 2. I try that and the labels disappear. A bit more playing around I find out that equals and not equals work, but greater than won't and a less than sign is just not on. So I just put in a few nested conditions with a few not equals going up to the limit I wanted, and now the only labels showing are those with at least two posts. In hindsight I don't really need the condition saying only show the labels with a non-zero count.

Anyway, this is mainly so that if someone else is trying the same thing they find it a bit easier than I did.

End Post
Writing time: 30 minutes
Time since last post: 1 day
Current media: Six Feet Under - Season 2

Something that's been bugging me for a while

There is a staff member at the Subway at Inala that has really big sideburns. And she's a woman.

Call me old fashioned, crazy, or whatever, but women should not have sideburns.

That is all.

End Post
Writing time: 5 minutes
Time since last post: 1 day
Current media: Bullshit!

Irresponsible Pharmacy

Last week I was at the chemist picking up some medicine, and while I was waiting for the store person to find the right box on the shelves, I saw something weird on the counter. It was a display stand for something called Original Hopi Earcandles. It was a tube of some sort of cloth, apparently impregnated with some sort of herbs and other things, which you stick one end in your ear, light the other end, and it does something. It spends a lot of time on the history of such things and how they are made. Then near the end it starts to make claims about what it actually does. This is all couched in weasel words. to quote "Earcandles may be beneficial in the temporary relief of the symptoms of". Note the may there. They then warn you not to use it if you have a perforated ear drum. I'm sure most people with perforated ear drum are aware enough not to stick anything in their ear.

The next bit is where they admit they're full of it. This is straight from the brochure

The Hopi EARcandle is not a medication. The indications are supported by the experience over many years of doctors and naturopathic practitioners. They do not constitute a guarantee of medical efficacy and if symptoms persist please consult your physician

Not a guarantee of medical efficacy. So in other words, they're not sure enough to really claim it does anything. They're not even sure enough to do some real testing to back up their experience.

It's also not great that later in the brochure they include a plug for a Dream Your Inner Healing cd.

To quote Penn & Teller, it's Bullshit!

The thing that really gets me is that this is being sold at a chemist. If some stupid hippy joint was selling this stuff, I wouldn't be surprised and would expect nothing less. But a chemist has a certain obligation to the community. This obligation arises due to the trust the community places in a chemist. They are the purveyors of medicine and other health products like ventilators, splints, bandages and more than I can think of. For a chemist to sell such quackery breaches the trust the community has with the chemist. It also gives undue respectability to the earcandles. And money to the unscrupulous who make such rubbish.

Chemists have an important role in society, and they should not sully this by selling garbage just so they can get a little more cash.

End Post
Writing time: 24 minutes
Time since last post: 3 days
Current media: Farscape - Different Destinations

22 words, 61 syllables

I'm putting this up here just because I'd like to be able to find it online sometimes.

The prolongated application of polysyllabic vocabulary infallibly exercises a deleterious effect on the fecundity of the expression rendering the ultimate tendency apocryphal

WoW not so wow

I was shopping for a headset with a microphone on Saturday, and while I was waiting at the checkout I saw they had on sale a two week trial of World of Warcraft for $2. I've heard mixed things about World of Warcraft, but for me the sticking point has always been the price. About $90 bucks for the game and then $20 or so dollars a month is more than I am willing to pay for a game of that sort. $2 for two weeks though is within the bounds of what I think is a reasonable price.

So after installing, which took a while (I hadn't realised it was a full dvd), it had to update, which was a 465MB download, I finally got to play. The game play is quite repetitive and there's not enough story to keep you interested. The other big problem is travelling between places. The whole wondering around the countryside takes forever, and making my character run in her underwear is only amusing for a few minutes at most (If I have to watch a person run around all day, it's going to be a woman. And it's not like it makes a difference game play wise)

I'll probably play a bit more over the next two weeks, but I don't think it's the great game so many people seem to claim it is.

End Post
Writing time: 20 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: Six Feet Under (Season 1)

Limits and Morality

One of my housemates has a habit of getting somewhat philosophical when he gets drunk, and recently this has got me thinking about a few things a bit more than I would usually.

The most recent position he put forward was that the ultimate aspiration/achievement is the freeing oneself of all limitations up to and including morality and the laws of physics. This is achieved through enlightenment, which apparently you only get when it happens, and is not able to be worked towards. Of course, you know you've been enlightened because that's part of the knowledge you get with enlightenment. And no one else can verify this, because enlightenment comes from within, and cannot be taught or worked towards.

He acknowledged that this is very much like traditional religious faith, and occasionally he has delusions of being the antichrist. We have very different notions of truth (For me, truth is the external reality, observable by all). He thinks truth is something internal, individual, and not able to be directly compared with others truth. And that this internal truth outweighs any other evidence if you feel it to be true enough (very much along the line of Stephen Colbert's Truthiness).

But the thing I've been thinking about the most is the whole freeing of all limitations. My thinking crystallised on watching a trailer for the next season of Battlestar Galactica, which was "Somethings you just don't do, colonel. Not even in war."

The idea I have is that being moral takes two steps. The first step is deciding what is good and what is bad. This should always be under consideration, and open for debate, etc. But the second part is then saying, these things I consider bad, I will not do. You limit the things that you are willing to do, based on what you think is good or bad. People will disagree with the what you might think is good or bad, but the restricting yourself to only doing good things is an important part of being a good person.

One other important aspect is that these limits are self imposed. You have decided not to do these things. Being forced to do things by others is still not good. The society you live in and your experiences will obviously have a strong effect on what you choose as good and bad, but ultimately it is your own choice what your actions are.

This idea of good people limiting their action came up on an episode of Penn Jillette's radio show about why should America obey the Geneva conventions, and one of the callers put in a similar idea, that because America wants to be the good guys, they need to live up to a higher standard of behaviour, one that includes not torturing prisoners, not attacking civilians, etc. This again is the idea "I want to be a good person, therefore I will not do bad things".

It does come to mind that this leads to a rather passive idea of good being the avoidance of bad rather than a goal in and of itself. You could look at it a bit like the Hippocratic oath "First do no harm", start out by not making things worse, then actively try to improve them.

In conclusion, I think that to be a moral person one needs to place limitations on themselves.

End Post
Writing time: 25 minutes
Time since last post: 5 days
Current media: Learn Japanese Podcast
Technorati tags: Philosophy, Limitations, Thoughts

The London Terror Thingy

A bit over a week ago it hit the news that the poms had busted a group of people who were planning on blowing up some planes in mid air. The plan allegedly involved using a binary liquid explosive smuggled onto the plane in component form and mixed up on the plane. Since then the governments have enforced a stupidly high level of security at airports, A huge number of people have either had flights delayed or cancelled, and the media has gone on another fear mongering frenzy.

My initial reaction was that the heightened security and so forth was a massive overreaction, which I still say is the case. There are several reasons for this.

First, there is the way this plot was detected. This was achieved through old fashioned crime detection techniques. It did not need any of the extra powers governments have said they needed to detect this sort of thing and all the extra security added to airports wouldn't have done any better than the security a decade ago. So if the tools we had before we did any upgrading due to terrorism are working, what justification is there for extra powers that come at a great cost to our civil liberties.

The second reason has come from some articles I've come across on the nature of binary explosives, and in particular the chemicals that were supposed to be used in this plot. Binary liquid explosives are popular in movies (see Die Hard with a Vengeance for an example) but are not as practical in real life. The chemicals that were alleged to have been used are especially impractical. One of the reactants is very reactive, and difficult to safely store, and has a very strong odor, making it very hard to get onto a plane (a shampoo bottle is not a safe container for this stuff). The other chemical is not as troublesome, but the mixing process is. Firstly, it's a very exothermic reaction, and the completed explosive is very sensitive to shock and temperature. To make enough of it to sufficiently damage a plane requires a significant amount of time, and even if you try doing it in the bathroom so the person sitting next to you doesn't ask what it is that you're mixing up, after an hour or two in there, someone going to complain to the crew. Premixing isn't going to work either, because of the sensitivity of the final product. (The main source for this is the Interesting People mailing list, the actual message is here. There is a followup that describes an binary explosive used in demining here.)

A third factor is a few of the things I've heard about the people arrested. There was no great knowledge of chemistry, no detailed plans of what was to be done, no plane tickets had been bought, and some didn't even have a passport (more info here).

The media has had a field day with the sensational aspects of these events, but haven't looked at all the details that mean it's not as bad as they were saying. Over in America, CNN spent a whole day scaring its viewers about how vulnerable they were.

End Post
Writing time: 41 minutes
Time since last post: 4 days
Current media: Bullshit!

Threatdown

For all you Steven Colbert fans, have a look at the Threatdown Generator.

In real world news, a cease fire has commenced between Lebanon and Israel. And about bloody time. Israel this time has really responded with much more than necessary force. Bombing civilians, hospitals and refugee camps while trying to get to Hezbollah will not make you friends in the Lebanese community. Nor will it get you friends in the peace loving community.

Israel is in a tough position. The nations neighbouring and around Israel know it's history, and know people who were affected by it's creation. They also know people who have been attacked by Israel. This is not Israel's first prolonged engagement with countries neighbouring it. There have been about 20 or so conflicts of various lengths since the creation of Israel. Israel has generally done well in these conflicts, such as the gains made in the 6 Day War.

Israel appears to have generally tried to play the role of the good guy, just trying to protect itself from others. This is partly true, it's neighbour don't particularly like it. But if you play the good guy card, then you limit your options if you don't want to lose that appearance. Good guys don't kill innocent civilians. Good guys don't bomb refugee camps.

I think Israel needs to change it's strategy. For as long as it's existed, Israel has believed a good defense involves a good offense. This has some truth, but doesn't consider the larger picture. Every time Israel kills someones family member, they make more people in the region dislike them. What Israel should do is draw a line in the sand (it's borders, for example), and say "no one crosses this line". They then set up on fine defense along that line. This shouldn't be hard. Israel knows their stuff. Nothing crosses the line, be it tank, jet or missile. But they don't strike back. Pure defense.

This has several positive factors to Israel. First, it allows them to keep up the good guy image with the rest of the world. Second, it makes it harder for neighbouring countries to maintain anger against them. Once you get a generation or two that have never had to worry about Israel striking out at them, they're much less likely to strike back at Israel.

The downside to such a scheme is that it will be unpopular with those who want the fight to continue.

Anyway, that's my idea on how Israel should proceed.

End Post
Writing time: 3 hours (I'm pretty sure I didn't take the whole 3 hours. There was a bit of reading up on the conflicts Israel has been in, and listening to a few podcasts. and answering phone calls)
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: silence. A few podcast played while I was typing.
Technorati tags: Israel, Peace, thoughts

Buy or Rent?

Buying a house is a huge deal. The amount of money needed to buy a house is more than I've had in my entire life, total (well maybe not an absolute dump in the middle of nowhere, but nothing worth living in).

There are people out there who advocate that buying a house is better than renting, because if you are renting your just making someone else's mortgage payments, so why not make your own payments and have an asset at the end of the process. Plus there is the security of owning your own home, etc.

Recently I've been thinking this is not the way to go. The big reason for this is interest. The interest on an average home loan is a bit more than the actual amount borrowed. Yay compound interest. So for every dollar of house you get, you pay another dollar to the bank. This is the killer. Let's say I rent a house, and I manage to save an amount of money equal to my rent each week. This is about the same ratio of interest to principle. 1 dollar to the house provider, one dollar to savings. At the end of the process, assuming the payments are about the same size, the home owner has paid a certain amount of money and got a house worth about half that amount of money. The renter has paid the same amount, doesn't have a house, but does have cash of about the value of the house. Plus they will have all the interest on that cash. And remember, interest on the mortgage was about as much as the principle. And even if the interest rate for savings accounts is a lot less than the interest rate for mortgages, it's still going to add up. And that doesn't even consider the possibility of investing the money somewhere where it will earn you even more money.

Now this analysis ignores a few factors, like rates, inflation, increase in the value of land, insurance, etc. Without thinking about it too much, I think these other factors would tend to balance out.

So it looks like I've got a long future of renting ahead of me, and hopefully my savings will grow as I go along. Of course, to do that, I need a god damned job.

End Post
Writing time: 16 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: silence

A Coffin Too Small

I got back from Rocky on Friday. I got a plane back. The plane I caught was not a jet plane, but propeller based. A bit smaller than the jet I got up there, but the flight time was the same and everything else was pretty much the same.

The funeral for Mal's mother was more religious than Mal's at the beginning of the year. It was led by a minister instead of just some guy from the funeral director. There was a more religious bent to the reflection from the minister.

One thing that got to me was that the coffin seemed to small for her to fit in. I remember thinking something similar at Mal's funeral. Perhaps if I'd been able to go to the viewing of the body (morbid as that seems) I'd be able to see if they actually fit without problem in the box. Admittedly it doesn't really matter to them if they are squashed into the box, but it is a little undignified.

Also, for something due to be cremated, the box seemed quite sturdy and elaborate. If I ever get to the point of specifying such things, I'm to go in the simplest, plainest box possible, cremated and my ashes then sent either into deep space or the sun (I'm not sure which yet. Both have a certain eloquence). I don't know if I'd want some sort of memorial plaque thingy (instead of an actual thing on the earth with my ashes). Graveyards really depress me, and is not a place where I'd want to spend a great deal of time in, even if I was a pile of ashes.

Mal's father handled this funeral a lot better than he did Mal's. He was aware of what was going on and even had a few drinks at the wake. At Mal's funeral he had a fit outside before the event and was taken back to his hospital unconscious before the service started. This was good as it prevented further distress for the family.

End Post
Writing time: 26 minutes
Time since last post: 4 days
Current media: He Died With A Felafel In His Hand (the movie)

Rubbish In Rubbish Out

Note: This is based on stuff I wrote during job search training today. I'm sure I've previously mentioned how unproductive such activities are. I'll note in the text chronological shifts

What is the point of this? After 1 day of job search training I am less motivated and more morose than I have been for some time. I've been through this process before. I know all the stuff they're spouting. I also know the biggest thing hold me back right now is the lack of references, which they can't really help me with.

The moroseness is worrying. I think two weeks of this will not leave me in a good frame of mind.

I'm not sure if part of this is due to the death of my mothers mother-in-law (step grandmother) (almost in law, but close enough). She's been on a steady decline for the past year or so. She's had a few strokes and slipped into a few comas over the last few months, so while the passing was not wanted, it was really just a matter of time.

A few weeks ago I visited her with Mum and she was stuck in her bed unable to get out or even sit up. She was also unable to speak in complete sentences while I was there.

(abrupt change in flow due to taking a break)

It's definitely the job search training. While popping over to Coles to get a drink I was much more cheerful while walking around. Now I'm back in the training and the depression is seeping in again.

While at Coles I saw an old lady with a shopping bag with a ration card printed on it. I thought it was worth mentioning.

Anyway, back to the previous topic.

Seeing someone be unable to move or communicate is really one of the sorrowful states of being. I do not want to end up in that condition. Hopefully by the time it's a serious risk for me brain implants will be around so I could still use a computer to communicate

(that ends the stuff written at job search training, now in real time)

Hopefully I will survive job search training.

End Post
Writing time: 46 minutes
Time since last post: 7 days
Current media: Not much

Another Note: I do realize that Garbage In, Garbage Out is the usual phrasing for the concept referred to in the post title, but the job search trainer used it, so it reflects the overall futility of the job search training program.

Scary law

I was reading slashdot today, an article about a guy getting arrested for taking a photo of some police officers arresting someone else. One of the posts pointed out this gem of a law from Montana.

45-7-302. Obstructing peace officer or other public servant

The first clause says that it's a crime to interfere or obstruct criminal investigations, preservation of the peace and government functions. Understandable. Government functions might be pushing things if it's interpreted widely.

The third clause just establishes the penalty. No more than $500 and/or 6 months in prison. Although 6 months in prison is a lot harsher than $500, jail time is probably for the more malovent justice obstructors.

The second clause is the scary and very dangerous part. It is not a defense if the officer in question is acting illegally in trying to accomplish their duty. This is bad. This I would go so far as to say, is unconstitutional in America. This law makes it an offense to demand that the police abide by the 4th and 5th ammendments. For example, if a cop comes to your house and wants to do a search but doesn't have a warrant, if you insist that they have to get a warrant before searching, you're now obstructing justice, and the fact that the cop was trying to do something illegal isn't going to help you when you try and plead your case.

It's also bad because it allows a group of people to ignore certain aspects of the law. One of the keystones of modern democracies is that the law applies equally to everyone. This law states that peace officers can ignore certain laws. This is a bad precedent. No one should be exempt from the consequences of breaking the law. Especially not the group of people entrusted with enforcing the law.

There is also the fact that when officers use illegal means to get evidence, that evidence, nor any evidence derived from it, can not be used in court. This does mean some people will get off charges where the police have not acted properly. This is needed to stop the police abusing power. There have been incidents where people have insisted that police get warrants and so forth before they would divulge information to the police, and these have usually had people in government deriding the people who insisted on the police following the law. This is not a good approach from those in power.

Ultimately, people have certain rights that should not be denied except under extraordinary conditions. This law from Montana makes it harder for individuals to defend their rights, and because of that is a bad law.

Rich Girl Not So Rich

I first heard Gwen Stefani's cover of If I were A Rich Man titled If I Were A Rich Girl while I was visiting my sister in Thailand last year while browsing in a music store. I didn't listen too much, but given that I'm somewhat of a fan of covers and parodies of songs, I was mildly interested.

It was a little while later that I found out who the artist was, and listened a bit more to the lyrics. When I did this, I realized just how much she and her collaborators had missed the point of the song.

In Fiddler on the Roof, the song starts out saying how if Tevye (one of the main characters from the musical) was rich, he wouldn't have to work, would have a big house, lots of animals, materialistic things. But then it turns to other things. Freeing his wife from the burden of having to do all the housework. Gaining respect from his neighbours, and them asking him for advice. And then finally he would be able to spend time to study the Torah, and spend more time praying. The song starts out materialistic, but comes round and shows that the main thing that Tevye would gain from it is being able to not worry about the mundane things like having food to eat and a roof to sleep under but concern himself with the more important (well, less materialistic, more spiritual) things in life.

In comparison, Gwen Stefani's version is about all the glittering things money can buy, and people wanting to know you just because you're rich. It does not look at other aspects of what having money can do for you. It's shallow, and misses the point of the original.

I could say that this is a symptom of the moral and cultural decline of modern society, but such claims have been made since the days of Socrates. And anyway, reality TV fills that role. I think my main point is that Gwen Stefani and co are shallow and missed the point of the song the were redoing. And the point of the original is a point worth making.

End Post
Writing time: 31 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: Firefly

Blue Sun

When I got my first chunk of cash from the work I did on Rent A Coder, one thing I did was to splurge on a t-shirt. And not just any T-short. I got me a Blue Sun t-shirt.

Now, I think most people who might read this will be wondering just what the hell is so special about a Blue Sun shirt. I will say that Blue Sun has a wikipedia entry, and those interested can look it up.

At the moment I'm still considering something big, and while having mostly made up my mind, am still a bit wary. More on that when I am more certain about the matter.

I bought a book on to read on the flight back from Townsville on Wednesday, The Great Philosophers. It's a series of articles on some of the big names in philosophy and what they were about. So far I've got through Socrates and most of the way through Plato, and next up is Descartes. Also in the list is Turing, which should be interesting. Look forward to a few more philosophical posts in the near future.

End Post
Writing time: 22 minutes
Time since last post: 13 days
Current media: iTunes Shuffle
Technorati tags: Blue Sun, stuff, rambling

a Cool quote

Here's a cool quote from a slashdot poll for people's favorite pirate

"I've found that brothels make for a surer investment than merchant ships. Whores rarely sink, and when they're boarded by pirates, they come away richer instead of poorer."

The Return of the Extended Kingdom

While I was on the train back from Rockhampton earlier this week, I got motivated and did some writing on the Extended Kingdom (see previous posts here and here). Not so much a story as a what could be considered a rough wikipedia entry on the Kingdom. Anyway the following is a transcription of what I wrote with some editing. Some of it recaps material in previous posts on the topic, but that's the way things happen.

Notes on the Extended Kingdom

The Extended Kingdom is a spacefaring civilization whose government is a constitutional monarchy. It is located in a small star cluster with most stars separated by distances of between 5 and 20 light years.

The Extended Kingdom currently occupies 4 solar systems. In its home system two planets in addition to the home world are inhabited, along with a few moons and many space habitats. The other systems are less densely populated, with just the most suitable world in each colonized and a number of habitats supporting the colony.

The Extended Kingdom has possessed faster than light for about 600 years but has not been able to travel faster than 13 times the speed of light, and travel is only practical at up to 6 times the speed of light. At this speed, trips between systems take between 8 to 18 months. Communication between systems is much quicker than physical travel, the longest delays in signals being about a minute or so.

The government of the Extended Kingdom is divided into three levels. The Grand Parliament governs the entire kingdom. Cities and Habitats have a local government that is responsible for administrating local affairs. Between these two levels sits the planetary government. Each planet has a planet wide government that exists mainly to centralize tasks that are more effectively dealt with on a larger scale (e.g., long distance infrastructure).

The Grand Parliament consists of three houses. The first is the House of Locales, and it's members are elected by the citizens of allocated regions, with each region having roughly the same population. The second house is the House of Metropolitans, which is made up of two representatives of each city or habitat administration. The last house is the House of Numbers. The House of Numbers has the same number of members as the House of Locales, but members are elected by a proportional ballot from a single electorate that covers the entire kingdom.

Members of the Houses of Numbers, Locales and Metropolitans are elected every two, three and six years respectively. The Metropolitans are staggered so one member from each local administration is replaced at each election for the House of Locales. The method of appointing the Metropolitans depends on the local administration. In some they are appointed by the administration, some are put up for direct election, and some are chosen based on the outcome of elections for the House of Locales.

The monarch of the Extended Kingdom is largely a symbolic figure, but does play a role in advancing social issues, and the degree to which this has been done depends on the reigning monarch.

The Extended Kingdom has grown from humble beginnings, and the monarchy traces back an unbroken line to the founder of the Kingdom of Antarius, Brilthang the Gruesome. Antarius started out as a small city-state, which Brilthang took control of after overthrowing the cruel tyrant Frimbar. He was well loved by the people of the city, Brilthang led Antarius in conquering nine other nearby city-states over the next twenty years.

Antarius then existed as one of eight nations on the main continent of the kingdom's homeworld. For a few centuries various conflicts moved back and forth between the nations, with shifting alliances and much use of subterfuge as well as actual warfare. Antarius broke this equilibrium when it went on a massive offensive after suffering a sneak attack from one of its most trusted ally. This success is attributed to Tilan, later called the Magnificent, who was the king at the time. Tilan was the first leader to realize the potential of several new technologies at the time including that of gunpowder, which was just being introduced to warfare.

As Antarius was consolidating its control of the continent, explorers returned having reached several new continents, and having established relations with two nations on other continents, Gerem and Sevant. The three nations co-existed for a few centuries until Gerem and Sevant were not conquered so much as absorbed. The absorption of the other nations was prompted by the surge in economic power that followed from Antarius' change from a feudal government to a limited form of constitutional monarchy. It was at this point the Kingdom of Antarius controlled the whole of it's world.

That's it for now. It's only taken me about a year to write some more of this stuff.

End Post
Writing time: 3 hours
Time since last post: 0 days
Current media: Quiet

A Trip to Rocky

On Tuesday the internment of Mal's ashes took place. Mum and his family have taken some time deciding what should be done with the ashes. Just a few close friends and some family attended. I was mainly there just to give Mum support. I also did manage to paraphrase a quote from a volume of The Sandman. I'm sure Neil Gaiman got it from somewhere else, but that's where I got the bit I said. Things weren't made easier by the fact that Mal's mother had a few strokes the night before.

Monday was spent traveling up to Rocky in Mum's newish car. I did a stint of driving that day. I did pretty much all the driving on Tuesday, and a little on Wednesday (to the train station) before catching a train back to Brisbane.

Anyway, it wasn't really a fun trip, but it was good to see there are a lot of people giving Mum support.

End Post
Writing time: 30 minutes
Time since last post: 15 days
Current media: Scrubs

The way of the world

A few days ago, to try and solve a few problems I'd been having with my computer, I did a reinstall of Windows. Once this was done I realized that because windows gives programs so many different user spaces to store stuff, some of the things I would have liked to have backed up, I hadn't.

One of the things I hadn't backed up was the search engines used in the search bar in firefox. Those of you using internet explorer probably don't know the joys of the search box, but it is quite useful. Through it you can use any number of search engines without having to go to their actual page and the cumulative time saving is significant.

Anyway, while going through the steps to put back the extra search options I wanted (Google AU, Wikipedia and IMDB), I decided to have a look at the top 25 installed options. Among them are four different languages of Wikipedia (English 2, German 20, Swedish 21, and Spanish 25), and more impressively 5 torrent sites, including the now even more infamous thepiratebay.org.

Given that firefox is the fastest growing browser in terms of market share, and has already taken a chunk out of internet explorer, it's worth noting that a fair number of these people use torrent sites so much that it's worthwhile making it easier to do so.

This also shows that groups like RIAA and MPAA are not succeeding when they try to stop this sort of copyright infringement. It also suggests that what people really want is easy and convenient media. But this is not a terribly original thought.

End Post
Writing time: 30 minutes
Time since last post: 3 days
Current media: Absolute Power

Rent A Me

So last week I actually managed to earn some money. I've started putting in tenders for work on Rent A Coder, a site that lets people do private contracting for computer based jobs (programming and web site stuff). The first job I did was just some proof reading some stuff for a guy. I did that real cheap because Rent A Coder has a reputation system, so I thought getting some cred was more important than getting some cash. The second job I did was helping a lady with the settings for her blog, which wasn't too complicated, and worked out ok. I got a bit more for that job, and she seemed quite happy as I got a bonus on top of the agreed upon fee.

I queried centrelink about how I should treat these small contracts with regard to my job searching requirements, and they said that I'd be better of with their paperwork just reporting regular jobs I've applied for. I'm going to compromise by just putting tenders I win on the forms. They also recommended I get an ABN, as they don't really like individuals essentially working for cash in hand. I've asked Mum about if it's worthwhile getting an ABN. I guess it would allow me to claim depreciation on my computer as an expense on my taxes, although I think there's a bit where you have to scale it with regards to how much is personal use and how much is business use.

One downside of Rent A Coder is that a lot of people wanting articles designed to do well in search engines and links to make their sites look more important, but I'm avoiding those sorts of jobs, and sticking with mostly technical stuff.

It's also made me want to add to my computer skills, to learn some PHP and mySQL stuff. I'm probably going to set up VMWare on my computer so that I can try that on a Linux machine without having to get another computer.

End Post
Writing time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Time since last post: 4 days
Current media: Penn Radio

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

This morning I listened to the BBC world news' latest podcast, and I heard a bit about some suicides at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Three of the detainees committed suicide a few days ago, hanging themselves from sheets. The three had previously been involved in hunger strikes. One was apparently due to be released in a few days, but hadn't been told.

Now what really truly amazes me is the comments of the guy in charge of Guantanamo Bay. Navy Rear-Admiral Harry Harris made the following statement about the deaths

"They are smart; they are creative; they are committed. They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."

This is a pretty messed up statement. Few suicides are acts of violence against others (suicide bombers are the obvious exception). These most definitely aren't. These are people who have been held against will, without trial, without charge, without even the chance to talk to the red cross unsupervised. Their deaths are not an act of aggression. They were acts of desperation by men who no longer had control of their fates.

An act of war is a very specific set of actions. Acts of war are done on a nation-state level. I, personally cannot make an act of war. I, as a person, cannot declare war. No person, acting on their own behalf can commit an act of war. A prisoner committing suicide is not an act of war.

Harry Harris really needs to have a long think about the job he does and the things he says. Surely he must know that the rest of the world is not impressed with the existence of Guantanamo Bay. This sort of aggressive bullshit with no empathy with those being held by the guy in charge is not going to improve the way people think about the place. Harry's bosses should seriously think about how he's doing his job (although given who his bosses are, they may not think he has much to answer to).

Sydney Morning Herald
News.com.au

End Post
Writing time: 35 minutes
Time since last post: 1 day
Current media: Geeknights

A Smaller God

Story telling has always included gods. And for their parts, gods have always had stories. The Greek, Norse and Celtic all have their stories. The Judeo-Christian god has the Torah, the Bible and the Koran telling his story.

And since gods are such well known and impressive characters, writers have included them in their own stories. Douglas Adams' "The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul" deals with what life is like for the Norse gods in the modern day. Other novels look at similar themes with other gods. Robert Rankin's "Waiting for Goldaming" is about someone investigating the death of God.

One writer who has freely incorporated gods into his stories is Neil Gaiman. "American Gods" is all about gods. In The Sandman, a number of gods from various pantheons are encountered. And this brings me to the actual purpose of this writing. In The Sandman, one particular mythos is singled out as being different. In the Brief Lives arc, Gaiman describes the life cycle of gods. They are born in the dreams of men, move into the waking world, as belief wanes they return to dreams and eventually move onto realms about which the only thing known is that there is no return. It is possible to avoid this fate by ensuring that belief, no matter how little endures. Pharamond achieves this by becoming the embodiment of transportation, something that will never go away. Ishtar, a Babylonian love goddess ekes out a meager existence working at a strip club. The Japanese gods incorporate everything from Marilyn Monroe to astronauts into their pantheon so that there's always something in there being worshipped by people.

The main point though is that people came first and that they formed their gods in their image. Only one mythos is excepted from this rule. And not surprisingly it's the Judeo-Christian mythos. First, it is stated that his home realm, called the Silver City, is explicitly separate from the rest of the universe. This is not just the material universe, but non-material parts as well, such the Dreaming and Hell. This separates it from every other realm in the Sandman universe, such as the realms of Fairie, Asgard, Destiny's Garden and others. The Sandman, during The Wake arc, states that there is a power above the Endless, although does not explicitly name that power or link it to the God of the Silver City.

Second, the Silver City, God and the angels all existed before the rest of creation. The short story Murder Mystery (not a Sandman story, but set in the same universe) is set in this before time, when the angels are helping God in designing his universe, although given how events play out, it is clear that this is just another stage in God's design, and needs to be gone through to ensure that the creation works out right, by making Lucifer into who he is destined to be.

The spin off series Lucifer, while not being written by Gaiman, continues this them of God being the overall creator of everything, and other gods being part of that creation. When God leaves, everything falls apart, including the realms of other gods.

So God is treated differently to other gods. This is not surprising given that he is the divinity of the western worlds dominant religions, while other gods are not held with such reverence by modern readers. Part of it is surely not wanting to antagonise the reader. Few gods in the Sandman are shown as unflawed beings. The gods lie, manipulate, bribe, scheme and more, while God sits above it all, watching his creation.

That was pretty much my point. God gets treated differently to all the other gods. Not the most significant of thoughts, but it is interesting to note that a difference is present, and it is a major difference in the nature of and significance of the being known as God.

End Post
Writing time: 6 hours, 10 minutes (I did leave the house for a few hours to play some chess, take about 4 hours off of that at least in reality)
Time since last post: 5 days
Current media: iTunes party shuffle

The past rears its head

Back when life was simple and I was doing a PhD, one of the things I started was a little user guide for the program I was using to do the calculations. It was mostly just saying what the heck the major input and output files were, and a few example calculations. Some of the information in there was picked up from using the program, but a lot it I picked up by actually talking with the main guy who wrote it and making lots of notes.

Anyway on Monday I got an email from a girl at a university in the US who said she'd found the guide useful and wanted to know if I had any plans to complete it as some areas such as the introduction were just blank spaces. My brief reply just said that I was no longer working with NRLMOL and had no plans to complete it.

I felt a bit bad saying that, as it was a reminder of just another thing I didn't complete with my PhD. On the other hand, it was good to know that it had been helpful to others even in its partial form. I think on the whole it was more good than bad, as I've kind of got used a little to the emotions that get associated with the non-completion of post grad (I use the word emotions because neither guilt nor depression accurately describe it, but do encompass part of it).

End Post
Writing time: 11 minutes
Time since last post: 2 days
Current media: The Long Kiss Goodnight

Improved Comms

A fair number of things have popped into my mind since my last post. I think I'll list them in reverse chronological order, as I know there are things I wanted to write about that are slipping my mind, so hopefully when I get to them I'll remember.

I bought a new mobile phone today. Still with the same company on the same sort of plan, just a new piece of hardware. It is also a cheap and clunky model, but it sends and receives phone calls and text messages, which is what I require from a phone. The impetus for me buying a new phone was the fact that my old one had a talk time of 30 seconds when not plugged into the charger, and so was not so much a mobile phone as a expensive home phone.

This morning was spent in a recruitment process. This is for a call center job, with a bit of sales involved, so we'll see how it goes. It involved an interview, some roleplays, some computer tests, some verbal and numerical reasoning and a team exercise. Most of it went ok, the roleplay I got a bit flustered on. The numerical reasoning test was simple, but they design it so that you have to really rush to get it all finished, so I missed the last two of 20 questions.

On a related note, as I left I was chatting with a girl who had also gone through the process, just some idle chit chat, but we split ways at an intersection, and in saying goodbye I didn't pay attention to where I was going and almost walked out in front of some oncoming traffic.

Also, I left my jacket behind, and so had to go and get it. Not sure if that is a winning move or not.

I found a online cartoon a few days ago that seems quite good. The art isn't the greatest, but the humor and maths references make it good. This one particularly resonates with me. Also the URL is quite original.

That seems about all for now.

End Post
Writing time: 28 minutes
Time since last post: 12 days
Current media: Monty Python

Single Purpose Legislation

A rider is a piece of legislation attached as an amendment to another unrelated bill. Usually the rider is something of specific interest to only a limited number of the members of the legislature, and the bill it is attached to is usually something of significant importance that is likely to be approved without much comment or controversy. An example of this is the REAL ID act passed about a year ago by the US Congress as a rider to a military appropriations bill. Riders can be used to as a means of pork barreling, if it the rider can be attached without too much notice.

A rider can also be used to sabotage important legislation. By attaching a rider with provisions that may be abhorrent to others, so that people will vote against the bill to prevent the rider getting through, even though the original bill may have many positive outcomes.

Riders are a problem for legislatures, as they increase the complexity of debate as well as splitting the focus of the legislature. They are bad for the people since representatives trying to get bills through without appropriate consideration are not serving the people they were elected by as well as neglecting the people as a whole.

There is a simple way to minimise the impact of riders. Every bill should have a single purpose that is clearly stated at the beginning of the bill, and all provisions of the bill must act towards that purpose. This still allows amendments that are aimed at improving the bill, but prevents the addition of riders that are unrelated to the bill. This also means that a rider would need it's own bill with its own clearly stated purpose and will get the appropriate debate.

Flawed Avatars

The idea of an avatar is an old one, coming from Hindu mythology, being a physical manifestation of a god. Since those days science fiction has used the concept with varying degrees of success and consistency. In science fiction, avatars are a human sized embodiment of significantly larger constructs that are self aware, such as ships or habitats. Rommie from Andromeda is probably the most well known, being one of the few who've made it to TV. In books, the Ships and Habitats of Iain M Banks' The Culture have numerous avatars.

Unfortunately, most of the time when avatars are used in science fiction, they tend not to act as they would given their stated capabilities. In Andromeda, the ship Andromeda Ascendant is a self aware entity. But it is a mixed up being. First there are four manifestations of the Andromeda. First is the ship itself. Andromeda's AI is able to control nearly every system on itself. Second is a visual display, that mainly just gives information. Third is a holographic projection that has a role similar to that of the visual display, but is more interactive and displays more of a personality. Finally is Rommie, an android who shows the most personality.

Nominally, all of these have the same ability to control ships systems, access data and sensors. However, in practice, the different manifestations not only have different levels of control, but indeed have distinct personalities. The android can be considered an exception as it is somewhat autonomous, both physically as well as computationally, as it has operated well beyond any ability to be controlled by the ship itself. But even while on board, differences in access and personality exist. This is a rather odd way of doing things, when the main task of these avatars is to communicate with the crew on board. Having more than one persona with varying degrees of overlap between the different versions would just complicate matters.

I think that the avatar is a good idea, and can be used to good effect. Iain M Banks has shown this, most effectively in Look to Windward, and not so well in Excession. The biggest difference in the presentation of these avatars is that Banks does not treat his avatars as independent entities. This is probably the root of most poor representations of avatars, that they are considered separate things to what they are a representative for. Banks' avatars are quite upfront about being the appendage of something greater.

So in conclusion, avatars good, just be clear about what they are and how they act.

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Avoiding Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is the practise of moving the boundaries of electoral districts with the aim of gaining an advantage in the results of a vote. The term gets its name from Elbridge Gerry, an American politician born in the 18th century who was involved in a notorious allocation of districts in Massachusetts in 1812. Gerrymandering reduces the effectiveness of a democracy by reducing the impact of each persons vote.

For example, if in a population of 50000, support for party A is 60% and support for party B is 40%, and this is spread randomly throughout 5 districts, it would be expected that party A would win 60% of the districts and get about 60% of the total vote. But if the districts are drawn up so that some districts contain a great deal more voters for party A than would be expected, say about 90% vote party A in two districts, this gives party B a majority in the remaining 3 districts, causing them to do better overall, despite not getting a greater share of the total vote.

Gerrymandering can also be used to make it harder for incumbent representitives to be replaced through similar tactics, this time by rearranging the district to remove those who may not be happy with the incumbents performance and politics.

There are a few simple guidelines for establishing the boudaries of districts that can greatly limit the ability of people to gerrymander.

1) The people setting the boudaries should be independent of elected representitives or political factions. If this is not possible, then a system by which all parties must agree to all new boundaries. In the USA, district boundaries are drawn up by the current legislature, and as a consequence, some districts are quite convoluted such as the 4th congressional district of Illinois.

2) The shapes of each district should be as simple as possible, while maintaining equal numbers of voters. Boundaries should be straight lines except when following natural features such as rivers or coasts, or where restricted by other causes (such as us congressional districts being in one state only). Ideally each district should be rectangular, or as close to as possible.

3) There are a few mathematical tricks and restrictions we can specify to prevent outragous districts. Set a maximum for the ratio of the square of the perimeter to the area of a district (For a circle this ratio is 4 pi, or about 12.57. Any other shape will have a higher ratio. A square will have a ratio of 16, a rectangle 4 times as long as it is high has a ratio of 100.

4) Get people out of the process all together. Computers can do all of this. We have a map, with people spread out all over it. We need to split it up into a certain number of divisions, and we want those divisions to have almost the same number of people in them. We also want the shape to be as simple geometrically as possible. This is exactly the sort of thing computers are good at. If someone were to put up a thousand dollar bounty and publicise it, this thing would be done in a week. Hell, I'm going to give it a go for myself once I find some useable population data.

These steps are all aimed at preventing people from setting district boundaries to suit their interests, because when that happens the value of a persons vote, and their say in the government is diminished.

Sucks to be me

So after having previously described the final interview for the data analyst job, you'd expect soon after I'd have found out if I got it or not. And indeed I did find out. Lamentably, I did not get the job. Apparently my references were not up to scratch, and so I did not get the job. This puts me in the rather frustrating position of not having any references I can use for job applications. And everyone it seems demands references, although apparently the whole not giving references out is not just something GE does, it's a growing trend. This does not bode well for my immediate prospects. I think I may give in and do as Mum suggested and have one of her partners brothers act as a reference.

And so I have gone to centerlink and applied for the dole again. I had hoped that I wouldn't need to but my savings are almost gone, and I still need to pay rent and so forth. It should be enough to get by on, but I won't be going to any movies or any other paid for entertainment (free movie tickets hopefully will continue to come on a regular basis, this month I've got tickets to two movies from triple j). Of course dealing with centerlink brings with it a number of hassles, but this should hopefully be a motivating factor for me.

The longer this goes on, the more I think going back to university to do an education course sounds like a good idea. I've just looked and while UQ does not have mid year entry for such a course, QUT does. I shall investigate further. A big concern is if HECS or some equivalent will apply to such a course. Otherwise I would need to find the cash to pay for it.

Well this has been really depressing writing this. It seems very little good has come from leaving things. I left my PhD and went to a crap job. I left the crap job and have been unemployed for nearly four months. I currently don't seem to have any prospects, and on top of that I'm hungry.

On a more positive note the BSOL stuff is going well. I've had two sessions with the first old lady I was dealing with, and they went well. In fact she tried to pay me the second time round. On Monday I meet with my next mentee, who is less experienced, so we'll probably have more sessions.

Well, I'm going to stop typing now and go to the gym, and then go shopping for a cheap lunch/dinner.

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I Ran From Iran

So two days ago I read the letter that the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, recently sent to the president of America, George W Bush. It is interesting to read the communications that occur at those levels, just to try and get a grip on what world leaders might be thinking.

The thing that really impressed me was the sensibility and rationality of the letter. It covered both recent events in the middle east as well as the regions history of the last 60 years or so, as well as America's actions with things such as Guantanamo, the secret prisons in Europe, and the whole War on Terror.

None of what Ahmadinejad says is new or a revelation, it's things most people have been aware of for some time. However, he presents it in a non confrontational way, and points out how Bush's actions contradict his statements that he is for freedom, democracy, liberalism, peace, etc. He appeals to Bush to consider the things they have in common, rather than trying to foment further conflict.

The only part of the letter I disagree with is the last few paragraphs, where Ahmadinejad claims that the world is heading towards a more theocratic society. This I think is not the case, and should not be the case. Religion has an important part to play in society, but religion and government should be separate. No government should either promote or disparage any religion or it's practitioners. If people wish to embrace spirituality, they should do so, but it should not be mandated by law.

The letter is quite well put and respectful, and if the situations were reversed, I cannot see Bush being able to write such a letter, or even being willing to put his name to it. Given all the antagonizing things America has done, it's impressive that the leader of Iran can be so well mannered about things.

Bush has seized upon the uranium issue in Iran and used it to build up tension with Iran. The nuclear non proliferation treaty allows countries to develop nuclear technology for civilian purposes. This really shouldn't be an issue. Except for some statements regarding Israel, Iran's leader seems to be a reasonable leader.

I've seen a number of people predicting Bush will invade sometime before November, when the mid term elections occur, and given his actions in the past, I doubt I'll be surprised if it happens. I just hope Australia will have the sense to stay out of it this time. Another invasion is not a good idea. Iraq is nowhere near stable, America has already used up whatever goodwill they have with most of the world, as well as having run up a massive debt in process.

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Writing time: 33 hours (about 30 minutes yesterday, then restarted this evening about 40 minutes ago)
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Elected Representative Responsibility

Within a representative democracy, the elected representatives are chosen by the people to represent their interests to the rest of the government. Before voting they should consider the matter being considered, how it will affect the people they were elected to represent as well as how it will affect the country. In practice, most elected representatives vote along party lines unless the consequences for their electorate are particularly bad, and may not even read the legislation that they are passing.

One factor behind is that apart from the desire to be reelected, in most countries I'm aware, elected representatives have no obligation as to how much attention or consideration they give a bill before they vote on it. This is particularly the case in countries with only two major political parties.

To discontinue this trend and make sure that representatives have considered the matters being voted upon, I propose that when a vote is called within the legislature, the representatives must sign a declaration stating that they have read and understood the bill that they are voting on under the penalty of perjury. Those abstaining would not need to sign a declaration, but a minimum number of representatives must vote on each act (this I believe is a requirement in most governments already).

If applied properly, this should ensure that representatives vote on matters only after having thought about the matter, and not just trusting the people who proposed the bill. Also, it should slow down the rate at which legislation is introduced and voted upon. I very much doubt anyone is able to read 4 whole bills each day, as well as fulfilling the other responsibilities of a representative.

The only downside is the problem of enforcement. I guess a first check would be the rate of legislation the representatives vote upon. And of course, any claims they make to not have been aware of certain parts of bills they have voted upon should be looked into.

The Final Interview, Ford and other miscellany

Tomorrow I have a final interview for the data analyst job I've been jumping through hoops for. I'm a bit uncertain as to what's actually going to happen. Apparently they weren't able to get in contact with my former supervisor on Friday, so have missed yet another reference. If they were really upset, and were adamant about having references, I guess they wouldn't be getting me in for another interview, they'd have just told me over the phone or by email. The first thought I had was perhaps they'll make an offer for a trial period, sort of we think you've got potential, but we want to make sure of how you work. I'll see how it goes tomorrow.

In other news, Ford has just got a pile of cash from the federal government, and is going to get some more from the Victorian government. While encouraging companies to work in Australia as opposed to other countries is good, I don't think we should go to the point of actually giving them huge gobs of cash. 52.5 million dollars is not a small amount of money, especially when Ford's net profit for 2004 was 185.6 million. There are many other things the government could have done with that money. Health care and education are the first two to come to mind. Both are areas that the current government is neglecting.

Having looked at some more recent posts from Shelley the Republican (see previous post), I have come to the conclusion it is just one big horrible joke. The tech stuff is quite blatant.

Also, one cool link: Communist Mario

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Limited Duration Legislation

Under the current way of doing things, once a piece of legislation is enacted, it remains in place until another piece of legislation is passed that repeals or amends it. This is despite changes in the community's attitudes towards things, changes in technology, side effects of the legislation or it's implementation. A government has no obligation outside of the publics desire to review existing legislation.

Additionally, each year a number of new bills are passed, adding to the totality of the law. During the 1st session of the current parliament in Australia which was from the 16th of November to the 9th of December in 2004, 73 bills were introduced, and 29 of those where enacted during that time. The great majority of these were amendments to existing bills (this seems to lend more weight to last weeks idea than this weeks). All this occurred in less than one month. During the 1st session of the previous parliament, in five months 428 bills were introduced of which 150 were passed. That's a rate of about 1 in 3 being passed and about 4 bills per day (parliament has a very generous work week).

My idea had been that all legislation must include a date by which time it must specifically be extended, lest the bill lapse. The amount of time would have been about 10 years at the most, but a lesser amount could be stated. In light of the rate of amendment, I don't think this would have a great effect.

I had also been thinking that one of the consequences of such a time limit would be to devote a certain amount of the governments time to reviewing legislation coming up to expiration, and so this would reduce the rate at which new legislation is introduced, but again the current rate of amendment suggests that only a minority of government is creating truly new legislation.

At any rate, regular review of existing legislation to ensure that it is still achieving the aims it was created for, and not having adverse consequences in other areas is an important task for governments, and should be done in a regular and consistent manner.

Driving, job and scary Shelley

So a few things have come up since the last time I wrote something. On Thursday I drove up to Rockhampton with Mum. She had been planning to do the drive by herself, but at dinner on Wednesday she really seemed not up too it, so I offered to go up with her to help with the driving. I got the train back to Brisbane on Friday.

While driving up got a call from the recruitment company handling the data analyst job I'm in the recruitment process for. Apparently there as been some problem with the reference from my team leader at GE, so they asked for a new reference. I think they just haven't been able to get in contact with her, as they mentioned in a call about a week before that that they couldn't get though to her. If she had said something bad, I doubt they would have asked for a new reference. One of my old supervisors has agreed to be a reference, so hopefully it will all work out. On the same topic, I called the police today to check on the progress of the criminal history check I ordered for this job. It's taken a week longer than usual, and while it should have been posted today, they did mention that it had been delayed because they picked something up in an interstate check. This is worrying one because I shouldn't have a criminal history anywhere, especially interstate where I've only spent maybe two months total. I shall see what's on there when it arrives, and if need be take matters further if it's inaccurate. I am slightly concerned as I had to fill out a form for GE to do a police check when I applied for a permanent spot, but they wouldn't have kept me on if something had turned up.

I found a blog yesterday that is either one of the scariest sites out there, or one of the most elaborate jokes ever. Shelley the Republican is worrying either way. Although Mosquewatch is also pretty messed up, even if it is just a guy ripping off another rabid conservative. Both of these sights err by taking their belief in their own rightness to the exclusion of any other possibilities. From my perspective, most of the truly horrible things in the world come about because people are so certain that they are right they consider all those to be not just wrong but less worthy than those who are right. Once the people in the wrong are less important than those in the right, it's easy to justify doing things against them, all while thinking that what you are doing is good and right.

Over the last week I've slacked off with my exercise, as I was spending more time with my family, so this week I aim to get back into the habit, and go to the gym at least 4 times.

Well, now I'm just rambling, so I'm stopping.

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Complete Amendments

When a law is passed, it's effects endure until specific action is taken to negate it's effects. This continuation occurs regardless of whether the concerns that brought about the law are still relevant, whether changes in society render the law harmful or unneeded, if the law is having the desired effect, if the law has unexpected consequences that are unwanted and other concerns.

When a law does need to be changed, it is usually done so as an amendment to existing law, and then only listing the changes that are being made, what is known in computer circles as a diff. For example is the following from the USA-PATRIOT Act, section 201:

SEC. 201. AUTHORITY TO INTERCEPT WIRE, ORAL, AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS RELATING TO TERRORISM.

Section 2516(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by redesignating paragraph (p), as so redesignated by section 434(2) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-132; 110 Stat. 1274), as paragraph (r); and

(2) by inserting after paragraph (p), as so redesignated by section 201(3) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (division C of Public Law 104-208; 110 Stat. 3009-565), the following new paragraph:

`(q) any criminal violation of section 229 (relating to chemical weapons); or sections 2332, 2332a, 2332b, 2332d, 2339A, or 2339B of this title (relating to terrorism); or'.

Changes like this make it very difficult to work out what the effects of the amendments will be without having to compare and contrast great portions of legislation. Indeed the section quoted changes something that was previously changed by another bill.

In most countries ignorance of the law is not a valid defense. However, when learning exactly what is the law requires extraordinary time and effort, eventually everyone will slip up somewhere. In Australia, there is no fair use clause in copyright law, and so numerous devices such as VCRs and iPods technically are not allowed to be used, which means a large part of the population have violated the law, though few would consider that they weren't allowed to use such devices. The law should be such that everyone can understand and find the whole of the law. Tax law is another example, with many loopholes, exceptions and variations.

So, in response to the onslaught of amendments that don't make clear there purpose and require the checking of many other documents to find their full effect, I propose the following. That when an amendment to a law is made, the bill state the previous version that is repealed, and then state the new version in its entirety. Notations showing where changes have been made should be included throughout the text of the law bill, and a complete list of changes for those who like the old format could be included as an appendix.

One consequence of this is that a bill could change one and only one already existing act. This would be particularly important when some wishes to make wide ranging changes to a number of laws, forcing a separate vote and debate on the changes in each area.

It will also make it easier to see the history of a law, as any bill that changes an existing states what it is replacing.

This should not have a major effect on the way amendments are developed, and laws would still be changed as needed, but the new laws will be much clearer and thus easier to understand, debate and consider.