What I kept

I used to play Warhammer 40,000. I quite enjoyed it and spent a fair bit of cash and time on the hobby. However, then I went overseas for a few years, and when I came back to Australia where my collection was there were new rule books and the relative power of certain units shifted, and I thought I'll get back into it in a bit when I have more cash, and for several years left it at that. Since then there's been even more new rule books at an even steeper price, and I recently made the call that I'm never going to play regularly again, and that the best use I could make of my collection would be to liquidate it. And now, thanks to the power of eBay, I'm now several hundred dollars richer (ignoring the 3-5 times that much I paid for the models and paint in the first place).

I didn't sell everything. There were a few pieces I wanted to keep as display pieces as I was particularly happy with how they turned out. So within the limits of iPhone photography here are the ones I kept.

By The Numbers 29/52

A bit late, and a few numbers that aren't as well defined as I'd normally have, but there's a reason for that: PAXAus. It was a bloody amazing weekend and even though it was a hard slog I'll be there again next year trying to cram even more fun in (I'm not sure if that's humanly possible, but let's see). Here we go

Wealth
Net Cash:-$236.41
Edit: I forgot to include my rent for this week. That makes this a bit more bleak purely on a numbers basis. However, since the purpose of getting money is to let you pay for the things you enjoy in life, this money has been used to great effect.
Jobs applied for: 0
Standard excuse for this week, PAX

Health
Net Calories: ?
Bad eating at PAX I hope was mostly cancelled out by various amounts of heavy lifting, walking all over the place, walking to and from trams, yelling with excitement, clapping, cheering, etc, etc, which brings us to a figure a bit easier to get
Weight: 94 kg (as of Tuesday night)
So a gain of 1kg. Could have been a lot worse. Bordercon was worse, but I was a lot more active at PAX.
Fitocracy points: 0
I could have put in all the walking but I've no idea of an exact figure and fitocracy doesn't really work on about 12 hours of walking

Life
Bike riding: 0 km
Books read: 1, Book 2 of the Dark Force Rising trilogy, I'm now working through The God Argument by A.C. Grayling
Games played: 13:  Zombie Fluxx x2, Lords of Waterdeep, The Resistance x3, Hanabi x2, Magic: The Gathering x5

By the Numbers 28/52

No fancy intro this week

Wealth
Net Cash: $249.78
Jobs applied for: 5
better

Health
Net Calories: 117 Calories
I pigged out on a block of chocolate today which was over a days worth of calories in one go.
Fitocracy points: 965
Weight: 93kg

Life
Bike riding: 107km
Books read: 1
Games Played: 16. Lost Legacy x2, Expedition, Ticket to Ride - Team Asia, The Walking Dead x3, Glory to Rome, Kingdom Builder, Pass-ack Words, Hanabi x3, Attika, Innovation x2

By the Numbers 27/52

Into the 2nd half of the year

Wealth
Net Cash: -$126.46

Ouch.
Jobs applied for: 2
Bad me.

Health
Net Calories: -1103
A while ago the app I use to track my calories suggested I need to revise my target intake to suit my current weight, but I didn't do it at the time as I didn't want to change the baseline I was reporting to, but since we are now half way through this seems like an ok point for a disconnect in the data. The new baseline intake is 1850 Calories a day, down from 1970 Calories a day (this is about one muesli bar or half a chocolate bar less a day).
Fitocracy points: 2542
This includes a few hundred bonus points for completing a quest (a recommended set of exercises), and I've leveled up to level 15.
Weight: 95 kg

Life
Bike Riding: 134 km
Books read: 0
Games Played 9: completed games of Through the Ages and The Hanging Gardens online during the week, 6 plays of Dominion (Dark Ages with a mix of other sets) and Battlestar Galactica with both Pegasus and Exodus expansions. Not bad for having missed the regular Wednesday and Friday gaming nights.

By the Pictures 1/?

Halfway through the year, lets convert all these numbers into some pictures

Wealth

One of the more varied graphs. Overall more positive than negative, but a bit more discipline is needed (at least until I get a better paying job).

 A graph of Jobs Applied For is just a few delta spikes and mainly a testament to my slackness.

Health
Net Calories

In only 6 of 26 weeks did I go over my weekly target. It would appear I'm getting used to being hungry, although the realization that exercising let's me eat more food has helped as well.

Weight

Steady progress for most of the year, but that seems to have plateaued over the last month or so.

Fitocracy points

A slow start that's picked up as the year progresses. Getting the dumbbells a while ago has added some variety and made it easier to get more points (I can do a treadmill session and a dumbbell session in a day and not feel too put out, but to get the same number of points with just the treadmill would be tough).

Life
Bike Riding

Yeah, pretty consistent most of the time.

By the Numbers 26/52

Half way through the year. Probably time to try some of those graphs I talked about way back in week 1. Look for something tomorrow

Wealth
Net Cash: -$288.12
I splashed out and bought some stuff for my place, the main one of which was a robot vacuum cleaner.
Jobs applied for: 4

Health
Net Calories: -4058
A good result, combination of exercise and lack of eating, although I suspect I got too much credit for rock climbing today
Fitocracy points: 2030
Weight: 95 kg

Life
Bike riding: 204 km
Books read: 1
Neil Gaiman's new book Ocean at the End of the Lane. A bit disappointed, mainly in that their was not more of it, and also that it seemed more "I'm Neil Gaiman, I write stories of people who get caught up in a world that's bigger and weirder than they knew and it changes their life" than "I have an interesting idea for a story." I would also agree with the person on twitter who said it was really a young adult novel, not a novel as American Gods or Neverwhere were. Today I picked up 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (of Red, Green, and Blue Mars fame) mainly on the basis of one of the blurbs on the back being from Iain M Banks.
Games Played: 8 x Dominion (Guilds + Intrigue x 2, Guilds + Prosperity, Dark Ages x 3, Dark Ages + Hinterland, Dark Ages + Alchemy)

By the Numbers 25/26

Another week. We're at 5 squared, and according to wikipedia there's not much more interesting about 25.

Wealth
Net Cash: $255.77
Yay for living cheap.
Jobs applied for: 3
Still not hitting the 1 a day I'm aiming for

Health
Net Calories: -4952 Calories
Living cheap is also living on low calories (Calories = $?)
Fitocracy points: 1989
Fitocracy level: 14
Weight: 95 kg

Life:
Bike Riding: 178 km
Books Read: 3
Finished rereading the Amtrak Wars. Now starting on the new Neil Gaiman book
Games played: 10: Dominion Guilds x3, Notre Dame, Troyes, Through the Ages, DnD, Settlers of Catan, Monty Python Fluxx x2

Thoughts on Winning Friends and Influencing People

I finally finished reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carneggie a while ago. I can't say I was really enthused by the book, as evidenced by the fact that it took me over a month to read it. My main interest in reading it was due to it having percolated into popular culture as The Book for learning how to deal with people successfully. Whether this is just due to it's age or the name recognition of the author vs it's actual merit is something I am not sure of, although I'm less inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt now that I've read it.

So why do I feel like I've not learnt much from this book that so many people swear by? Part of it is presentation. Each point is only illustrated with a series of anecdotes, and as we all should know, the plural of anecdote is not data. This is a collection of feel good stories, and if presented as such I wouldn't be so unsatisfied, but the claims it made starting out were of scholarship and research and on that basis the book oversold itself (I'll admit my background might make me view research in a more mathematical orientated way, but even loosening those standards I still feel it didn't meet the standards it claimed). Overall, it's made a claim that this is a good way to deal with people, but hasn't backed up the claim.

Another reason I didn't like the message conveyed in the book from a number of stories such as the salesman who found out a potential buyer's son liked stamps, so went out and bought a rare stamp as a gift and so got the sale, which to me feels like a bad message. The person didn't get the sale because he was selling a good product at a good price that met the needs of the buyer, but because they did something nice that was irrelevant to the transaction. I don't think it's cynical to say that if you're making a large purchase on behalf of your company, giving the sale to the guy who was nice to you just because he was nice to you is a dereliction of duty. Some of the tactics suggested in the book do seem cynical, or at least some of the applications described are. A salesman finding out the needs of the business he's trying to sell to and altering his pitch to suit is sensible and a good thing. A salesman finding out the manager is a baseball fan and spending the meeting talking baseball with the potential client is being manipulative rather than standing on his merits.

The last problem I have with the book is a message that I partly find contradictory and partly makes me feel as though I fail at being a human being. Several times the book stresses that when showing an interest in people it must be sincere, and not just flattery, but then gives examples where the interest is insincere. The part where this makes me feel like an incomplete person is that in general I don't find people interesting. Specific individuals yes, but it generally takes me quite a while to get there, and it usually requires some sort of context where I have the time to get to know them (university, work, board gaming, etc). So being told that the essential key to good interactions with people is something I don't have (and that faking it is bad) is discouraging at the least (at the most it makes me feel like a failure as a person that something fundamental to the human experience is missing in me).

So what can I gain from all this? Be nice to people? I already try to do that. Start with a positive and then move to the negative? The "You're doing this thing great but need to work on this other thing" routine just makes the first part sound phoney. Do something that doesn't come naturally to me but don't fake it. The final section on tips for married life quote clearly dates the book quite markedly. I get the point the book is trying to make but the implementation it suggests seems flawed and impractical.

By The Numbers 24/52

A less than stellar week

Wealth
Net cash: -$241.59
This is a two week figure as I didn't keep track of things as well as I should have last week. Based on a rough idea of where I should have been last this works out to about +$100 or so for the week.
Jobs Applied for: 1
Yeah, I got slack after getting back from Bordercon.

Health
Net Calories: 1640 Calories
More slackness I'm blaming on Bordercon. I got back after a delayed flight to no food and ordered pizza, which then meant I had enough pizza for three days. Bad Kevin.
Fitocracy points: 734
Weight: 95 kg

Life
Bike Riding: 227 km
Books read: 1
Book 3 in the Amtrak Wars
Games: 11: Glory to Rome x 3, Ad Astra, Hanabi, Ricochet Robots, Race for the Galaxy, Mamma Mia, Sole Mio, Dominion x2

By The Numbers 23/52

Later than I expected due to Bordercon and after a delayed flight back to Brisbane I felt watching the season finale of Game of Thrones was a higher priority than doing this.

Wealth
Net Cash flow: ?
a significant negative number, but I don't have a precise figure (on the order of -$300). I wasn't careful enough keeping track over the weekend and while I now have everything up to date, back tracking to get a figure for where things were on Sunday evening would be a lot of hassle. I will post a two week figure next week that will once again be exact.
Jobs Applied for: 3
A new record, tripling previous best results. I am again planning to improve on this.

Health
Net Calories: 298 Calories
This figure is probably low as I ate out a lot and so couldn't just scan barcodes of what I ate to get the actual numbers.
Weight: 95 kg
This has crept back up again. Need to hit the treadmill some more, as dumbbell exercises score points by don't burn much calories
Fitocracy points: 1430
Not bad considering I was away for half the week
Fitcracy level: 13

Life
Bike riding: 9 km
Books read: 2
I'm going through the Amtrak Wars series in one go, as while I've read the complete series, there were significant gaps in time between books due to availability at different libraries, so this time I'm going to go straight through.
Darts: skipped this week
Games Played:  25 (woo Bordercon) Zombie Flux, For Sale (x2), Shadow Hunters, Cartagena, Fantastiqa (x2), Glory to Rome, Hanabi (x3), Innovation with both expansions, King of Tokyo, Merchant of Venus, Vanuatu, A Study in Emerald, Clubs, Klunker, Mamma Mia, Potion Making Practice with both expansions, Win Lose Banana (x3), Love Letter, Tichu,

By The Numbers 22/52

Next week may be a day or two late, as I will be going away to Bordercon next weekend.

Wealth
Net Cash: $129.22
Not great, but after the last two weeks it's good to be positive again
Jobs applied for: 0
Look for this to be higher next week

Health
Net Calories: 321
I slacked off with the diet and exercise this week, but it could have been worse.
Fitocracy points: 1386

Life
Bike Riding: 353km
Books read: 0
Darts: 501 in 9 rounds
I got lucky
Games played: 6 Roll Through the Ages, The Hanging Gardens, Maori, Masons, St Petersberg, Factory Manager (all but the last were played online)
This will be higher next week (see earlier note about Bordercon)

By the Numbers 21/52

Once more onto the breach

Wealth
Net cash: -$147.47
Given that I bought $200 bucks worth of bike gear (boots, new gloves, and a balaclava) and paid for some more expenses for bordercon/PAX, I was kind of surprised it wasn't more negative.
Jobs applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: -2023 Calories
A bad week. A full pizza for dinner last night didn't help. But exercise kept me in the negatives.
Fitocracy points: 1749
Fitocracy level: 12

Life
Bike riding: 381km
Books read: 0
Darts: 501 in 24 rounds
Games played: Hacienda, Resident Evil: Mercenaries, Ticket to Ride (team variant), a session of DnD, and I finished an online game of Stone Age (it took about 3 weeks to play)

By the Numbers 20/52

Wealth
Net Cash: -$145.10
I bought my plane tickets for Bordercon and PAX this week, so I don't feel too bad about this. It also helped that the monthly bonus was paid this week. I'll also have to pay for some accomodation and some other related expenses so I shall endeavour to be a bit more frugal in day to day life in the coming weeks to make up for that.
Jobs applied for: 0
I continue to suck

Health
Net Calories: -1926 Calories
A few instances where will power gave out was mostly but not completely countered with exercise
Fitocracy points: 2769
While taking the benefits for it, I still believe strength exercises get more points than cardio for the amount of effort put in.
Fitocracy Level: 11
Yeah, I leveled up again.

Life
Bike riding: 397km
Books read: 0
Darts: 501 in 20 rounds
Games played: 0

By The Numbers 19/52

Wealth
Net Cash: $63.41
Jobs Applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: -2448 Calories
Weight: 94kg
Fitocracy Points: 1632

Life
Bike riding: 366km
Books read: 1
The Geek Manifesto, a call for greater prominence of science and the scientific method in the public sphere.
Darts: 501 in 25 rounds
Games Played: 2 Age of Industry (the Japan map) and Steam Barons

By the Numbers 18/52

No comments about the progress of time this week.

Wealth
Net Cash gain: $388.37
In this I'm counting $150 worth of Coles gift vouchers I received via work this week, as they're almost equivalent to cash. Not sure if I'll just use them for groceries and bank the cash I'd otherwise have spent, or use them for a slightly bigger purchase such as a new chair or a filing cabinet.
Jobs applied for: 0
Man I suck at this

Health
Net Calories: -1793 Calories
Back in the negatives, but could be better
Weight: 96kg
Fitocracy points: 614
In addition to the gift vouchers, I also got a set of dumbbells to get a bit more variety in the exercise I do. I've noticed that for the amount of effort I put in, I get a lot more points for doing strength exercises vs cardio exercises.

Life
Bike riding: 156km
A lot of public transport this week as my shifts were during peak hour ($5 petrol + $9 parking = $14 bus fare + less stress)
Books read: 2
So I finally got round to finishing How to Win Friends and Influence People. Unsure on my feelings about it, and will probably write something about it to get my thinking straight. I then went and tore through Inversions by Iain M Banks, and can only lament the fact that there will be no more Culture novels (damn you cancer)
Darts: 501 in 18 rounds
Games Played: 2 Roll Through the Ages and Twilight Struggle

By the Numbers 17/52

And April's almost done

Wealth
Net Cash: -$97.25
I reverted to form on eating takeaway in the later part of the week due to some bad planning on the groceries front (if you're going to run out of food on the day before ANZAC day, don't think you can get your groceries home delivered on ANZAC day), plus I went out and saw a movie on Saturday
Jobs Applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: 1166 Calories
A positive no. A consequence of eating too much takeaway during the week (it doesn't help that they make it cheaper to get a meal than just one item by itself, but I should have known better).
Weight: 96 kg
Fitocracy points: 590
At least I walked to and from the cinemas on Saturday.

Life
Bike riding: 289km
Books read: 0
I've all most finished How to Win Friends and Influence People
Games played: Glory to Rome and Tichu

By the Numbers 16/52

Another week down.

Wealth
Net Cash: $197.45
Jobs Applied for: 0
Successful Interviews: 0
So after a few delays at work, they final told me that they'd decided to appoint no one to the position I applied for, and also that I might be better suited in a slightly different role, which I suppose is at least more constructive feedback than any of the other job application this year.

Health
Net Calories: -2431 Calories
I noticed a trend this week. If I don't get enough sleep I eat more. I should try to get by on more than 5 hours sleep.
Weight: 95kg
Fitocracy Points: 1361
Fitocracy level: 9
The arbitrary no increases again, hooray!

Life
Bike riding: 360km
Books read: 0
Games Played: 4, two plays of Dominion base and intrigue, and two new games, Discworld and Twilight Struggle (note to self: If you're going to replay the entire cold war, expect it to take a while)

By The Numbers 15/52

Here we go again

Wealth
Net Cash: $163.03
Not bad, but about half of the surplus comes from gifts, so it's not too sustainable, but I spent more than usual as well, so it probably balances out. If I'd given in too temptation, this would have been a very big negative number, but I've decided my current computer will have to do for now.
Jobs Applied for: 1
Interviews Attended: 1
A new field! Now, I don't think I gave them the answers they were wanting to hear so I'm not too optomistic, but I should find out how I went today (it was for a different position at my current work).

Health
Net Calories: -2583
Yeah, eating a packet of mint slices on Sunday probably wasn't the best lunch
Weight: 96kg
It's going down again. Yay!
Fitocracy points: 243
I'd forgotten about some exercise I did early in the week and was thinking this was going to be a terrible week for exercise, but instead it's just ok.
Fitocracy level: 8

Life
Years lived: 32
I'm older! Yay! If I use hexadecimal I'm only 20
Bike riding: 214km
I caught the bus in to work a few times this week to avoid traffic and weather.
Books read: 0
Still plodding through How to Win Friends and Influence People. After that I have two very interesting books to read, The Physics of Wall Street and Scepticism and the Possibility of Knowledge.
Darts: nope
Games Played: 6
Glory to Rome x3, Eminent Domain x2, and Dominion

Things done
Worked on the jigsaw puzzle, read a bit, went to Critical Mass, got a haircut, did some cleaning around the house, exercised on Monday, walked to and from the bus stop on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (although I forgot my go card on Friday, so the return trip was in the morning and then followed by riding the bike into work).

Again I haven't really lived up to what I'm trying with this section.

The Human Mind is a Chinese Room

The following is an essay I wrote as part of an Introduction to Philosophy course I finished recently on Coursera that I felt like sharing more generally. 

Could a computer have a mind?

In the debate over can a computer have a mind, one of the most well known arguments for the negative is Searle's Chinese Room Argument. To make his case, Searle asks us to consider a man locked in a room. In the room with the man are some pens, some paper, and a large book. From time to time, the man will receive a piece of paper with some symbols on it which the man will look up in the book and then copy some other symbols onto a blank piece of paper and send that out of the room. Unknown to the man, the symbols are words in Chinese and the book is telling him what to say in Chinese. Searle claims that since the man is just following instructions based on the symbols and not their meaning he doesn't understand Chinese, and since any computer program would also just be following instructions based on the symbols, it too can not understand Chinese. That is, a computer can operate on a syntactic level, but it can not operate on a semantic level, and thus can't be said to have a mind.

I disagree with conclusion, and to explain why I wish to present a counter example, namely the human brain. The human brain is made up of around 86 billion neurons. Each individual neuron is functionally very simple. It receives electrical impulses from other neurons and from time to time based on the received impulses it will send out an electrical impulse to other neurons, who go on to do the same thing. Now for an individual neuron all of these electrical impulses only have syntactic information. Either there is an impulse or there isn't, that's all. It might have originated with a pain receptor in your foot after stepping on a nail, or in a photoreceptor in your eye when you look at a red rose, but to a neuron it's just an electrical impulse with no semantic information associated with it.At this functional level, a neuron is very similar to a circuit in a computer, various electrical inputs are received, and based on that, a certain output is made. From this we can see that a neuron operates on a syntactic level, and not on a semantic level.

So what happens when we start grouping together neurons? For a moment, let us go back to Searle's Room, and this time instead of just one person, we have two people, each with their own book, receiving and writing symbols and passing them between each other as their books instruct to achieve the same outcome. Again, everything is happening on a syntactic level so no semantic understanding occurs. If we continue to add more people to the room each with their own book of instructions, nothing changes to move us from the syntactic to semantic level. So if we remain operating on a syntactic level by adding more people to the room, we will also remain at the syntactic level by adding more neurons to a brain. So a human brain (and indeed any other creatures brain) must operate at a syntactic level and not a semantic level.
 
But the human brain does operate on a semantic level. We know a rose would smell as sweet by any other name. Semantics are who we are, it's how we think.

We can come to either one of two conclusions. We could look at Searle's claim that a system that operates on a syntactic level can not also operate on a semantic level and say "well, the human brain does that, why cant something else?", or if we concede that yes, the human brain only operates at a syntactic level, then the question is "If the human brain operates only on a syntactic level and we say people have minds, why can't something else that only operates syntactic level also have a mind?" In either case, Searle's argument does not provide a reason to believe that a computer can not have a mind.

By The Numbers 14/52

I'm a bit late this week as I stayed over at my uncle's as my mother is staying there while she's in town. I'm now doing this while at work, so will need to come back a bit later to fill in some blanks.

Wealth
Net cash: $191.30
Jobs Applied for: 0
I'm working on an application for different job at my current work, but am uncertain as I've applied for this role twice before and each time I've had a crash on my bike just after applying, so there's a certain irrational fear associated with it.

Health
Net Calories: -3809 Calories
An ok week but hurt by a few overindulgences along the way seem not to have had too big an impact
Weight: 97kg
Fitocracy Points: 347
So much lower than last week, but still my 2nd best result for the year
Fitocracy level: 8

Life
Bike Riding: 339 km
Darts: let's call it a miss this week
Books read: 0, but I have been churning through Race for the Iron Throne, a political analysis of A Game of Thrones, which also has a lot of interesting history as well
Games Played: 0
BGG stats not withstanding, as I entered a bunch of online plays of games in bulk the other day. I've decided online plays of games against other people I will keep track of, but not if I just play against an AI.

Things done
A big fail on the three things a day this week. However, things done last week include starting a jigsaw puzzle,  exercised once, visited Mum while she's in town, and procrastination. As always, I will try to do better next week

By The Numbers 13/52

Three months in to the year.

Wealth
Net Cash Gain: $63.93
Not much, but I still have a lot of cash on hand which I don't recall being the case at the end of last week. I've also played a bit with timing things to make this a bit better by delaying paying my phone bill until tomorrow so it counts for next week's expenses.
Jobs applied for: 0
I've averaged one job application per month. This needs to improve.

Health
Net Calories: -3799 Calories
An ok week. It would have been a very good week but I ate a bunch of chocolate today and take out on Friday.
Weight: 98kg
A slight move in the wrong direction
Fitocracy points: 1408
A big week. A major step up in the use of the treadmill at a much higher setting. I am getting blisters on my feet though so I may have to actually start wearing shoes while using the treadmill.
Fitocracy level: 8
So after spending most of the year so far getting from level 6 to level 7, I then managed to reach level 8 in one week. I'm not sure if I can repeat this next week.

Life
Bike riding: 402km
A bit of non commuting riding this week
Darts: 501 in 36 rounds
Books read: 0
Games Played: 3. 2 games of Dominion (just the base set) and Battlestar Galactica with the Pegasus Expansion. My second time as a cylon, and I did a bit better at not getting caught, but the humans got a very good start and the cylons weren't able to hit them hard enough during the last jump, but we got close (two of the dials were down to 2)

Things done
Monday:
Tuesday: exercise
Wednesday: exercise
Thursday: exercise
Friday: Social gaming,
Saturday: exercise
Sunday: exercise, Coursera work (Greek History quiz and peer review of Philosophy essays)
So much for the three things a week. Let's have another go next week.

By The Numbers 12/52

Almost at the end of March. My time flies.

Wealth
Net Cash: $167.74
Jobs Applied for: 0
If job hunting is a numbers game, I'm definitely playing it wrong

Health
Net Calories: -5248 Calories
My will power seems to be improving. On Thursday among my groceries I bought two packets of mint slices, and I'm still making my way through the first packet.
Weight: 97kg
A lean diet this week hasn't really translated into weight loss. At least my pants seem looser around the waist.
Fitocracy points: 165
Walking to the shops instead of getting home delivery really helps with getting exercise
Fitocracy level: 7
I leveled up! Yay for arbitrary numbers increasing

Life
Bike riding: 352km
Books read: 0
Still working through How to Win Friends and Influence People (I'm forcing myself to keep going, once I'm done I'll post some of my thoughts) and The Geek Manifesto on the side
Darts: 501 in 37 rounds
An all round atrocious effort
Games played: 1 St Petersberg

I'm going to add a new section which I'm hoping will make me do more things with my free time rather than just watching tv shows and playing around on the internet. The aim is to do at least three things each day. I've not done it every day this week, but I'll see what I can remember
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: wrote Intro to Philosophy essay (I'll post it next week after submissions are finalised)
Thursday: Walked to the shops (exercise in general will count as a thing for this), watched English Composition lectures and wrote "I am a Writer" essay,
Friday: read a chunk of How to Make Friends and Influence People
Saturday: watched Microeconomics lectures and completed quiz, looked at handbrake on bike to see why the brake light isn't working properly (the switch isn't working, I'm getting it fixed tomorrow), checked the oil and lubed the chain, played St Petersberg with Simon and Dan and learnt a bit about roofing (social things in general will count)
Sunday: Watched Games without Chance lectures and completed the quiz, watched the storm, mopped the floor (aftermath of the storm), read a chunk of How to Make Friends and Influence People

I'll make notes next week so I can provide a more complete list

By The Numbers 11/52

A milestone I've been working towards was achieved this week, but I fell a little short of another one so let's recap

Wealth
Net Cash: $223.58
It was bonus week at work this month, which accounts for a bit over half of this surplus. I've also been on earlier starts which means the free parking spot near work had spaces available, which saves about $45 on parking. The milestone I achieved was this has allowed me to finish paying off my credit card, which was about half of the debt I had at the start of the year. Hopefully the second half will be paid off a bit quicker, and the 2nd creditor offers much more flexible terms.
Jobs applied for: 1
A friend sent me a link to a job being advertised at their company, and it looked good so I sent in an application.

Health
Net Calories: -2385 Calories
I slipped a bit on Saturday as my DnD group reverted to getting pizza instead of going out for subway, but a bit of exercise today helped a bit
Weight: 97 kg
Fitocracy points: 148
Fitocracy level: 6
I only exercised once this week, and while I did 100 jumping jacks and some pushups while doing the prep for this post I'm still 72 points short of leveling up

Life
Bike riding: 351km
Just the regular commute to and from work
Books read: 1
The Flight of the Horse, a collection of stories by Larry Niven. An enjoyable read, and a pleasant distraction from How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Darts: 501 in 16 rounds. Amazing how much better you do when you go out on your first try instead of busting for 15-20 rounds
Games played: 3 Battlestar Galactica with the Pegasus expansion, Through the Ages, and a session of Dungeons and Dragons

By The Numbers 10/52

And we're into March now.

Wealth
Net Cash: $66
Could be better, but a positive figure
Jobs applied for: 0
I'm slack. But I've been browsing seek more regularly, which is a step forward

Health
Net Calories: -5094 Calories
A pretty good result
Weight: 98kg
Fitocracy points: 271
Fitocracy level: 6
I'm almost at level 7, if I do as much exercise next week I should level up.

Life
Bike Riding: 371km
Books Read: 1
Drift by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC fame. A pretty dismal look at how America has made going to war much easier and with less oversight. Also, the Iran-Contra scandal was even dodgier than I previously understood. I had thought the reason they were using money from arm sales to Iran to help the contras was just to keep it secret. It turns out the reason they did that was because Congress had specifically said you can't spend our money helping the Contras, but Reagan wanted to anyway. I'm now part way through Flight of the Horse by Larry Niven
Darts: I'm skipping this week
Games Played: 1, Cranium, and may I just say I suck at the green ones.

By The Numbers 9/52

Wealth
Net cash gain: -$50.18
A major once off expense this week, my accommodation for PAX is now sorted out, I'll be sharing a room with a friend from bordercon in the city within hiking distance (4-5km) from PAX, so I'm pretty happy with it.
Jobs applied for: 1, a graduate analyst position in Melbourne, which might mean the above payment for a hotel room for PAX might end up being unnecessary, but that would be a problem I'm more than happy dealing with if it arises.

Health
Net Calories: -1903 Calories
A hermit-like weekend made up for a major blowout on Friday.
Weight: 99kg
Fitocracy points: 0
This is especially bad as on Sunday I got a free pass to a gym for 5 days and I managed to go to the gym exactly 0 times. A combination of logistics (having to bring in a complete change of clothes including shoes and a towel on the bike), bad weather (any change of clothes I did bring would be drenched when I got in) and distance (when they called me up to offer the pass, I was thinking they were only a block or so from work, turns out the place was about a 30 minute walk away). But that still doesn't excuse not doing anything at home.

Life
Bike riding: 326km
Books read: 1
I finally finished Mr Gatling's Terrible Marvel. Main points were amateurs inventors good and American style patents good. Very light on technical details though. Not sure what my next book will be, contenders are Drift by Rachel Maddow, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carneggie, and My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor (2 of these have been featured on the Daily Show this year)
Darts: 501 in 30 rounds, half for the first 498 points, another 15 for the final 3
Board Games played: 2 Through the Ages and Eminent Domain

By The Numbers 8/52

Now for week 8

Wealth
Net cash gain: $171.14
a big asterisk on this week. Issues with my iphone caused me to have to reset it, which caused me to lose the data in the app I use to keep track of my finances. I've put all the data back in, but the bank records date things by when the transaction is processed rather than when the transaction actually occurred, which means the dates before and after the reset won't exactly match, hence the asterisk. From now on making a back up will be a part of process of preparing this weekly write up
Jobs applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: -2802 Calories
Weight: 99kg
Fitocracy points: 84
Fitocracy level: 6
Yeah, I slacked off this week

Life
Bike Riding: 354km
Books read: 0
I didn't even make any progress on Mr Gatling's Terrible Marvel this week.
Darts: 501 in 40 rounds. I need to work on accuracy, since 21 rounds trying to go out on 7 and then 2 is just plain terrible, especially since it only took 19 rounds to that point.
Board games played: 0
An early start on Saturday meant no Critical Mass on Friday night, and there was no other gaming this week.

By The Numbers 7/52

Still going seven weeks in. At the very least, this is the longest I've stuck with an attempted self improvement process, so that's some progress right there. But now for the bits that really count. I'm late for this entry but I had a really bad headache last night so only did the working things out bit but skipped writing it up until now.

Wealth
Net Cash gain: $532.30
The greater part of this is because I got a final payout from the NOVA bankruptcy process. Excluding that, a modest surplus for the week.
Jobs applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: -3288
Weight: 100kg
A change!
Fitocracy points: 336
Good
Fitocracy level: 6

Life:
Bike riding: 433km
Books read: 0
Darts: 501 in 25 rounds
I had a hard time going out on 7
Board games played: 4
Glory to Rome, The Pillars of the Earth, Nefarious, and Twilight Imperium

Philosophy 101 With EsonLinji

I'm currently taking a few online courses through Coursera one of which is Introduction to Philosophy. The following are a few of my thoughts on the topics from week two, which focused on epistemology. Since the lecture had two main parts, so to will I split this into two corresponding parts.

A few general statements first. Epistemology is looking at the question of what is knowledge and how do we know what we know (and how do we know how we know what we know (and how do we know how we know how we know what we know (and so on and so on))). My science and analytic background makes me take a very empirical view of such things (which is part of why I've tended to not look so favourably on philosophy and related disciplines. This will become very significant in the second part).

So, what is knowledge? What does it mean to know something? The initial idea that was presented was that knowledge is a belief that is true and for which there is a justifiable reason for being true. Notwithstanding a certain unease at the use of the word believe (while here they are using it to mean "an idea of how the world is" too many discussions with religious types who use it as "an idea of how the world is without explaining why" has led me to try and avoid the word. If more people used it in the first sense and then tried to justify their beliefs, I'd be happier using it), this seems to be a reasonable definition.

Unfortunately, the lecturer then went on to shoot down this definition, by poking what was considered to be a big hole in the justifiable reason part of the definition. This was done by setting up scenarios where what one believes is true, and you think you have a justified reason for believing it, but that justified reason is not true. A few amendments to the definition were considered, but suffer from the same flaw.

Now, in my arrogance, I'm going to try and do what philosophers for the last half century or so haven't been able to do, and see if I can come up with a definition of what is knowledge (or at least one that works for me). Let's consider a few important points

To know something it must be true. I can know 30 Rock is a TV show starring Tina Fey because this is true. I can't know that it is a TV show that went for 10 seasons because this is not true (however much I'd like it to be). I can think it went for 10 seasons, I can believe it, but I can't know it. So truth is essential.

All my next ideas were all just trying to finesse the justification side of things, and since a long checklist of things doesn't seem that satisfying, I'm going to throw out a new idea and see how it goes.

Knowledge is Understanding based on Meaningful Applied Data. Nope, that's Justified True Belief in different words. Dammit. This is trickier than I thought.

Actually, I like the Justified True Belief idea. The tricks they used to poke holes in that idea don't seem big enough to throw the whole thing out, more requiring more care in what can be considered a justification for a belief. So let's go with a Justified True Belief that is subject to revision as more information is learned (You can see the science background there)

The second part was on Radical Skepticism. The position of the Radical Skeptic is that since we can't be sure we're not just brains in a jar being fed sensations, a la The Matrix, we can't really be sure of anything. This I find less than satisfying mainly because it is a theory that makes no testable claims and in science when you put forward a theory that makes no testable claims you get a pat on the head and asked to come back when you do have some testable claims, and if you build your theory to completely avoid testable claims, well don't even bother. So the whole brain in the jar scenario being reason to doubt our ability to know just doesn't fly. If we have two possibilities as to how the world works, we don't just decide we can't know anything. We find out which one it is and build up from there. The Radical Skeptic is a defeatist position.

That's it for now. The next set of lectures is on Minds, so I'll probably have something I disagree with there I'll want to write about.

By the Numbers 6/52

February continues apace. Let's see how I did.

Wealth
Net cash gain: $301.33
Yay. I can haz cash. Actually, I can pay off credit cardz. A bit. But a good result. I should buy cheap microwave meals for lunch more often.
Jobs Applied for: 0
Yeah, I need to do more. If I say that enough, I might actually do it.

Health
Net Calories: -3702
A good result after the last two weeks. It seems like the key to not eating is not to buy food to be eaten.
Weight: 103kg
Fitocracy points: 106
Watching Coursera lectures while using the treadmill is a winning combo.
Fitocracy level: 6

Life
Bike Riding: 355km
Books read: 0
Still going on Mr Gatling's Terrible Marvel
Darts: 501 in 21 rounds. Too many shots on the edge of the board.

By the Numbers 5/52

Another week gone, and now we're into February

Wealth
Net cash gain: -$8.76
So it turns out the overtime I did last week during the floods neatly covered most of my periodic bills (phone and health insurance) and working late shifts meant I spent more on meals while at work.
Jobs applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: 23
Too many takeaway for dinners, but finishing work at 9pm makes it too tempting to have something during my half hour break at around 5:30-6ish.
Weight: 103kg
Fitocracy Points: 37
Once again, about half the previous weeks score. I need to fix this.
Fitocracy Level: still 6
Blood Loss: 470ml
I gave blood. You can to.

Life
Bike Riding: 281km
I caught the bus on Friday as I gave blood and I figured a motorbike was probably one of those things they recommend against operating on the same day. That and my bike already being at work on Monday make for less riding during the week.
Books read: 1
Finally finished A Game of Thrones. I've now started a book I got last year on my way to Bordercon, Mr Gatling's Terrible Marvel
Darts: 501 in 19 rounds, including 3 where I went over the remaining score

By the Numbers 4/52

Week 4 and boy what a week. Here come the stats

Wealth
Net Wealth Gain: $56.28
I slacked of a bit at work and took some early finishes, and splurged a little for a BBQ a friend hosted.
Jobs applied for:1
I applied for a Graduate Analyst - Corporate Finance. Haven't heard anything yet, and since the ad said they'd only contact applicants they're interested in, that doesn't bode well. But it's a start. Plus it was in Sydney, which could have been an interesting change of scenery.

Net Health
Net Calories: 105
Note this is a positive no. A small one, but still represents a whole lot more eating. I blame Coles and their special Australia Day Lamington ice cream. Take that out and I would have had a really good week. A slap on the wrist for that one, and a reminder to not let curiosity overcome willpower.
Weight: 103kg
Fitocracy points: 80
This represents the walk to the local shopping centre to do my grocery shopping.
Fitocracy level: 6 (no change)

Life
Bike riding: 342km*
I wasn't able to check the precise odometer reading last night as I left my bike in the city and got a lift home with a coworker due to the bad weather, so this is based on the reading tonight less how far I rode this evening.
Books read: 1
While still work through A Game of Thrones, I did make a diversion with one of my Bookfest acquisitions, the promisingly titled "Answers to the Cultist at Your Door". Alas, the answers it put forward were why Born-Again Christianity is the right path to god, and here are the scriptural points to show why Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishna's and Moonies are wrong even though they say they believe in Jesus. I guess I was hoping for something more along the lines of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and boy was I disappointed.
Darts: I didn't do this this week as I had no power last night and my contacts are getting to the blurry and uncomfortable stage that says it's time to take them out for the day.

By the Numbers 3/52

Week no 3 and I'm still going

Wealth
Net Wealth gain: -$256.35
This wipes out a good chunk of what I've gained in the last two weeks. The main driver of this was needing to replace the chain on my bike. That was a tad over $300 for parts and labour. On top of that, bookfest started on Saturday, and I spent about $70 there.
Jobs applied for: 0
I know I need a new job. I just hate the whole looking for, applying for, and interviewing process.

Health
Net Calories: -1985 Calories
Been pretty good this week. Portion control thanks to mainly microwave dinners is helping to keep this down. Having a cake for lunch today not so good.
Fitocracy points: 187
Not as much time spent on the treadmill this week.
Fitocracy level: 6
I leveled up. Yay for arbitrary milestones
Weight: 103kg
More Yay

Life
Bike riding: 381km
I think I might have made a typo putting in the initial odometer reading, as I did the same amount of riding as last week (commuting to work), but have a higher figure, and one that's closer to what I would have expected given the distances involved. (I calculate the weekly figures by checking the odometer each Sunday rather than keeping a log of what I travel during the week)
Books completed: 0
Books acquired: 29
Working my way the A Game of Thrones again. It's a big book, and I'm not committing as much time to it as I did Memory of Light last week. After that I'll go through some of my new acquisitions.
Darts: 501 in 24 rounds
After feeling 301 was not big enough, I completely sucked at 501. I should practice more.

There's a Word for That

In yet another case of Republicans outdoing themselves again, I read this morning about Michelle Bachmann refusing to pay some of her staff from her Primary campaign until the sign a non-disclosure agreement that would stop them from discussing “unethical, immoral, or criminal activity” they witnessed on the campaign with police or reporters.

We have a word for stopping people talking to the police about a crime. Actually, it's a few words. It's "Obstruction of Justice" and it's a pretty serious thing. 

Now of course, one might wander why Mrs Bachmann feels the need to have such a non-disclosure agreement in place, and why she thinks it might stand up in court (people generally can't be contractually obliged to carry out illegal acts, and disputes over such contracts that actually come to court tend to get a poor reception).

By The Numbers 2/52

Week two is here. Let's see how I went.

Wealth
Net Wealth Change: $96.14
I splurged a bit on Tuesday while waiting for the final book of Wheel of Time as the bookstore had a sale on scifi/fantasy so I got the complete (for now) set of A Song of Ice and Fire for $50, and my pay was a bit less as it only included one public holiday this week.
Jobs Applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: -1600 Calories
Weight: 105kg (same as last week alas)
Fitocracy points: 345

Life
Bike Riding: 284km
Books read: 2 Finished The Hydrogen Sonata from last week, and finished A Memory of Light last night after spending most of Tuesday waiting for it to arrive at the bookstore.
Darts: 301 in 9 rounds

By The Numbers 1/52

In order to try and do better this year, I've decided to actually try and track certain more quantifiable aspects of life, so I can actually see how I'm doing. I don't plan on deducting anything from the list, but may add more as time goes on, and the occasional odd but interesting number may be included as well. Once enough data points are here, I may start producing graphs.

Wealth
Net wealth change: $289.04
A bit high since this includes penalty rates for working on Christmas and Boxing Day
Jobs applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: -1258 Calories
This will be weekly figure compared to a recommended intake of 1970 Calories per day. This figure is only for 6 days as I plan to do weeks starting on Monday, but only started tracking stuff on January first.
Weight: 105kg
Fitocracy points: 0
My chosen measure of how much exercise I'm doing is Fitocracy points. At the start of the year I was at level 5 with 2184 points

Life
Bike odometer reading: 73282km
Next week will be kilometers ridden
Books read: 0.75
Nearly finished my second read of The Hydrogen Sonata
Darts: 301 out in 9 rounds

In which things go from a little bit biological to a little bit shit

So I went to the hospital on Friday to find out more about the stuff coming out of my leg. This started with another set of x-rays (this is the standard procedure. x-rays pretty much on the appointment time, and then waiting another 30 mins to an hour to actually see a doctor). I got moved to the more private waiting room around 10:00 and met the doctor a little after that. I explained the situation to the doctor and he checked a few things and got a copy of some of the test results I'd had done earlier (I was kind of surprised how easy it is to just get someone's test results - their name, date of birth, and a plausible sounding story). He was a bit concerned and suggested that they may want to take out the screw that's underneath the spot in question just to be safe.
However, before committing to this course of action, he decided to confirm it with the head of the department, which entailed a bit of waiting as he was finishing up dealing with someone who had been in an accident. While waiting I got into conversation with another guy waiting there and we compared scars and war stories.

The head doctor finally arrived, and presumably after a bit of discussion with first doctor, he came in, had a quick look, and decided they should take all the metal out. I imagine some of this is being extra cautious, some is deciding that if they're going to put me under the knife it's better to do it all at once rather than do a bit now and another bit later on, and some is other doctor stuff I don't know about.

So I've been booked in for surgery next Thursday. The 14th of April. Which is my birthday. My 30th birthday. Yay me. Bestest birthday ever. Well, I have asked if I can keep the metal as a souvenier/trophy/grim reminder which you could count as a present (if one takes a sufficently naive/optimistic view of things) (Idea, rig up the bits of metal so that they are in the position they were in my leg. I shall have to discuss this with one of my arist friends (yes, I have artist friends (not many))).

This has knocked me about a bit. It will knock me about more as well. I'm going to be back on crutches for a while as the bone is going to be a fair bit weaker for a while. This is because there is going to be a dozen or so holes in the bone where the screws are now, and the screws seem to go every which way through the leg.

This is going to mess with a few plans. I'm hoping I can still go to Bordercon in June (a gaming convention), but I've given up the idea of spending a few days after that in Melbourne. I'm in the process of deferring my current unit in my finance course, as the final exam is a mere 5 days after the surgery, and even if I am able to make it in to the exam, I'll be too doped up to do a decent job (and given my assignment I'll need to do a decent job (well, actually just pass, but I'm used to having a bit of a margin to play with)). I'm also a bit annoyed at the timing as there are a few good movies coming out over the next few weeks (Paul with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Seth Rogen comes out on Thursday, and Thor comes out the week after).

Work's been pretty good again, but I just hope that I don't have to miss as much time as last time. That doesn't seem likely as the doctors said I should be discharged the day after surgery, but given the delays before and after the first surgery, I'm taking that as an estimate at this stage.

I'm also kind of curious what they will do about the holes in the leg. Will they fill it with something that will go away as the bone regrows, or will they leave it with the gaps and let blood or whatever's on the inside of the leg seep in and the bone marrow seep out? Or maybe I'm better off not knowing.

Anyway, I can't think of much more to say (I've got a long list of stuff to do (stocking up on snacks, laundry, cleaning up my room, a ton of paperwork for various people, and others I haven't though of yet), so here's to quiet days at work which means I can get away with blogging while I should be/am working (huzzah) (maybe I should ask to finish early (but the money is good and will be short for the near future, so maybe not)).

In which we get a little bit biological

Warning: For those who don't like dealing with certain realities of the human body, you may want to skip this one.

So, regular readers (if I have any left after the general lack of posting over the last year or two) should know I broke a leg last year. And while it's generally improving, it's still not 100%. One minor issue that persisted but didn't seem a major issue was a little bit of scar tissue on the front of the leg that stayed red and inflamed while the other scars settled down quickly.

About a month ago, this inflamed scar got a bit more inflamed, and a few days later (last warning squeamish types) stuff started oozing out of it. Now I'm no doctor, but this is not a good sign. So, I went to a doctor, and he said it was probably an infection, took a swab of the ooze, gave me some antibiotics and sent me on my way.

At first the antibiotics seemed to be having an effect, and the amount of stuff coming out reduced, but it didn't stop entirely. So as the antibiotics were about to run out, I went back to the doctor. Here it gets interesting. Apparently the swap of the ooze he took showed no sign of any infection. So, to try and find out what was causing this he ordered some more tests.

So off I went and got an x-ray and some blood tests. These also came back negative, so the mystery deepened. Also, occasionally some blood had started coming out with the other stuff. Next on the test cycle was an ultrasound of the leg, to try and find where the fluid is coming from. The ultrasound guy says he thinks it's an infection, and recommended an MRI (not sure if I can get a MRI with the metal in my leg). Also, the GPs decided to pass the buck a bit and have referred me back to the hospital, where I have an appointment on Friday. Also, for good measure, I got a tetanus shot, just to be safe (probably just as well as I haven't had one in over a decade (almost two in fact)).

So, on Friday I'm off to the hospital, and hopefully they'll be able to work out what's going on there.

How How I Met Your Mother Should End

I didn't get on the How I Met Your Mother bandwagon when it first started, despite the presence of Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Stewart in the cast. It was only while I was in hospital that my sister loaned me season 1 and 2 (although disc 1 of season 2 was missing) that I started watching. After I got out of hospital I quickly got caught up on the rest of what was available.

A while ago a thought came to me which would be a really good way to end the show. So for posterity, here it is.

It starts out narrated by a woman, and will be in two parts. The first part would be a swift and succinct summary of known events in the series, such as the yellow umbrella and being in the economics class Ted accidentally taught on his first day as a professor, the dates with the roommate, etc. This would all lead up to the day. The second part would be the story of a regular day, leading up to the meeting of Ted and the woman, the say "Hi", and then the narrator states "And that's how I met your father." Cut to the two kids, relieved to have finally found out what their father has taken 6 season and running to recount. I'm not sure how they should meet, it could be a blind date, or a chance meeting at the bar downstairs, or maybe at a function for the opening of the building Ted designed. The exact details can be left to the writers, but the key is the contrast between Ted's very long story and Mrs Ted's direct and to the point retelling.

The only weakness in this is the fact that it sidelines the main cast for what should be their grand finale, although this could be remedied by having coincidental interactions between Mrs Ted and the cast, e.g., she could be in an exercise class with Robin, she takes her nephew to Laser tag and bumps into Barney, etc.

And now, for orange flavoured dark chocolate.

End Post
Writing time: 20 minutes
Time since last post: can't be bothered checking
Current media: Community 1x01 (for about the nth time)

Almost Live from EsonLinji's Place

First a technical note this blog post has been recorded on my iPad with some dictation software rather me typing it out. Hooray for technology, even if it doesn't recognise all the words I'm saying.


I'm still getting used to the system and I still have to remember that I have to pronounce my punctuation rather than expecting it get it from where I pause while speaking.

It does work a bit better though, when I speak slowly and clearly. Surprising, really.

So, what shall be the topic of this recorded blog. To test it out, I thought I would just give a few reviews of our some bits and pieces I've seen or read recently.

First, the Green Hornet Seth Rogen's latest movie. A moderate action flick, but nothing really to write home about, or dictate about. The basic premise is somewhat similar to Batman. He's a rich playboy, his father gets killed by gangsters, he fights crime. However, the Green Hornet is a douche bag. That's the best way to put it. He's very is inconsiderate, he's egotistical, he can't fight, and everything he manages to achieve, is through to his sidekick, Kato. Kato, however is the man. A mechanical genius, he makes great coffee, he gets that girl, and is the real hero of the story. The villian of the piece is rather lame, and is definitely no Joker. In fact, he's kind of a wannabe. Finally, the green one that is a 3-D film. A live action 3-D film. As I said before, live action should be 2-D. If you Wanna do 3-D, do computer animation.

Next, is a comic book. Promethea, by Alan Moore, of Watchmen and V for Vendetta fame. Like all of Alan Moore's work, Promethea has a lot of depth to it. Rather than being a somewhat philosophical action sort of story, Promethea is a slightly actiony philosophical story. It is an exploration of mysticism, and the Kabbalah in particular, and a look at the meaning of life rather than a story of heroes and villains, although there are monsters and battles for those who are so inclined. While it is technically impressive, I didn't enjoy it as much as Moore's other stories. But then, I guess that's more my lack of preference for the artsy fartsy what is the meaning of life kind of fair.

Anyway, this is taking a bit longer than expected, and a few more takes than I thought it would as well, so I'm gonna wrap up here and now try and work out how to get actually onto the blog.

2011: A Prelude

This was intended to be a more direct followup of 2010: A Retrospective, but well, I'm slack about things and now it's February. Yay procrastination! Anyway the following are my general aspirations for 2011. I've chosen the term aspiration as it let's me be more vague and seem less binding than resolutions.

So here goes.

A Better Job
Call centres are not forever. Or if they are, kill me now (I just mistyped kill as call there. That seems telling). So I want to move on. Into something that could be considered a career. Something with a salary, better pay and prospects for moving if not up, at least onward. This will also help with the next aspiration

Better wealth
Back when I was getting money from Centrelink I somehow managed to get by on under $500 a fortnight. Now I seem to go through more than that a week. Sure I pay more rent, but not that much. Also, since my accident on the bike my credit card has been carrying a balance. I've just got it back to a zero balance, but will nearly max it out again in a few days asI will have some significant expenses over the next few months. The point though is that I need to do better at saving money. Aspiration 1 a better job will help with that, although there will still be some budgetary expansion if I get more money. Better spending control will also be required. For the last month and a bit I've been tracking my expenditures, and food and rent are the two big ones. There were a few others but they were once off things like Christmas presents. The big goal is to start investing by the end of the year.

Better health
Major improvements in the amount of exercise I get will be somewhat restricted by my leg. Running is still not an option. I have been using the exercise bike a bit, but I need to do it more frequently and for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. I also need to be a bit more diligent in doing the exercises my physio has given me. Better diet is also required. My takeaway eating is mostly subway and kebab shops which I feel are healthier than KFC or McDonalds, although I do succumb to temptation now and then. Less snacks will be important, and will also helps save money (as per aspiration 2)

Better socialization
My social life is going all right (by previous standards very well), with a few regular activities that get me out of the house. I've cut back on things since the accident, but am slowly getting back into the swing of things. That said, a lot of the groups I'm part tend to skew in one direction when it comes to the demographics. I would like to find some activity or group that I could get involved with that had a more representative mix. Unfortunately, most of the things I can see myself enjoying tend to attract the same sort of demographic as the groups I'm part of now. Suggestions are welcome.

Better productivity
I waste a lot of time. One of my common thoughts when I notice the passage of time is that I never seem to have done enough to fill up that time. Yes, work and sleep take up a big chunk of time, but I still feel like I should have more to show for the rest of it. I also have a bunch of stuff I intend to do but don't get around to. I've a bunch of ideas for projects that never get started, a bunch of things I'd like to read, watch or listen to.

So those are the things I'd like to aspire to this year. One twelfth of the way in and I can't say I've made all that much progress yet.

2010: A Retrospective

So, it's now 2011. I guess that means it's time to look back on 2010 and see what I think about it.

So what happened in 2010?

I got a job. At a call centre. An inbound call centre so at least I still have a soul. The jobs not all that challenging, and so is likewise not all that greatly compensated for, but on the whole it's paid the bills. I did apply for a seconded role, but didn't get it, but it is the first time I've gone for something that could be considered a promotion, so that is something. Also recently my supervisor has asked me if I'd consider joining the escalations team, which deal with some more involved stuff and is kind of a promotion in a different direction. I've said I'm interested and things may start moving forward in the new year.

I got my motorcycle license after having a learner's permit for more than 10 years, and have been riding my bike for most of the year. Generally this has been pretty good. It's cut down the amount of time I spend commuting (although this brings a commensurate decrease in my reading time while on buses). It's allowed me to stay later at Critical Mass, which is good, and in general made getting places more convenient (so long as I don't have to bring much with me.

The one big downside to the whole motorbike thing came in late June, when I had an accident while changing lane and broke my leg. While not causing any significant damage to my bike or the car involved, I spent just over a month in hospital and then another month at home sitting around. During the first few days in hospital I was never more jealous of someone being able to get up and walk. Well I can do that again now, although running, jumping hopping (on the leg that was broken) are still a while away. I'm still going to physio (my next appointment is Tuesday), and at my last visit to the doctors a few weeks ago, the doctor took a quick look at the x-ray, said it looks good and that in 9-12 months they will look at cutting me open again to take out the metal, and to come back for a check up in 6 months.

Work was pretty OK with the whole breaking the leg thing. I got a little bit of sick leave during the time, and the rest was unpaid leave, which means I still have a bunch of leave accrued for future use. They were also pretty accommodating to me around the office while I was still on crutches, letting me take longer lunches so I had time to get somewhere to buy lunch and get back with time to eat. A big thank you also to all those who came and visited me while I was there. An even bigger thank you to all the nurses, doctors, physios, fellow patients (during my stay about 20 different people occupied the other three beds in my room) and others (especially the lady who handled the meals who was giving me Tim Tams and chocolate milk for the last week or so) who looked after me while I was there.

I went on three dates. A friend set me up with one of his coworkers and we met and had coffee. This was followed by a trip to the art gallery that extended to another coffee, a walk around South Bank, dinner and a few drinks, and the third time we had dinner and saw a movie (Toy Story 3, absolutely amazing, by the way), and after that she reached the conclusion that I was a nice guy and we could still be friends, and that was that. With a bit of hindsight I can see the signs from the third date that indicated this outcome, but at the time was a bit too optimistic/hopeful to realize it.

Financially I didn't meet the goals I was aiming for early in the year, but losing two months worth of income does tend to hit the wallet. Fortunately Medicare covered almost all of my hospital bills (I had to pay to watch tv, and got a bill for the medicine I was given when I was finally discharged), so now am an even bigger proponent of public health care. My uncle was also very understanding when it came to the rent, so much gratitude is owed there.

A big expense this year was my studies. I have started a Masters in Applied Finance, which I am hoping will assist me in getting into something that resembles a career. Long term I'm thinking something on The regulatory side of things, which I think means I'm going to have to study more law along the way (I've found it helps if you think of the law as the rules to a really complex game. Since I already play a lot of really complex games, this helps me to deal with all the cross references and such).

A bit after going back to work after the broken leg I decided to splurge and get myself an iPad. This has been a pretty good investment, and is getting a lot of use. It has reduced how much I use my laptop, which is now mainly relegated to being a media storage and playing device, and one that can be controlled from the iPad at that. The iPad also prompted me to finally get onto twitter(@esonlinji if you must know).

Those were the bigger elements of 2010 for me. Next up, plans for 2011.

Recent Reads

Two recent (pre Christmas) acquisitions that I have read present a nice complement to each other.

The first is The Second Book of General Ignorance, put out by the team behind QI. A celebration of curiosity it looks into questions that people think have blindly obvious answers (such as How many legionaries did a Centurion command? A: 80 or so). Thanks to this book I have a new found respect for French military accomplishments, can no longer say it's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, can't make short jokes about Napoleon, and still can't understand how the British live in such small spaces. The only downside to having read the book is that some of the information in it comes from the current season H of QI, and it means I know straight away some of the answers. Such is the burden of knowing things.

The second book is The Areas of my Expertise by John Hodgman, better known as the PC from the Mac vs PC ads and for his appearances on The Daily Show. The Areas of my Expertise also presents itself as a source of useful information, but rather than the question and answer format used in The Second Book of General Ignorance, it follows a more traditional almanack style, mixing list, tables and anecdotes to provide information on matters including the Hobo War, Werewolf transformation tables including the effectiveness of various traditional defense during the month, US presidents who had hooks instead of hands, advise for aspiring writers, combat techniques and more. It is also almost entirely fictional (John Hodgman is a real person who was formerly a literary agent, so that bit is true). On a practical note, the list of 700 Hobo names should make a great source of passwords that are unusual but easy to remember.

So there you go. One book that titles itself ignorant and provides truth, and the other that proclaims truth and provides fiction, but both well worth reading.

Well, this seems legitimate

Imagine you're the president of one of the former member states of the USSR and under your newish democratic system are meant to be having an election soon. What do you do?

You could take a page out of the President of Kazakhstan's book and decide not to hold not just one, but the next two Presidential elections. The fact that his party controls the entire parliament makes this a bit easier, although they are going to go ahead with a referendum on the issue, just to make it look like things are on the up and up.

Supporters of the plan say they are sure that they people trust the president, but if that is the case why don't they trust the people to vote for him in an election. They also say it will bring stability, but if the people want stability then they can vote for it at an election. These aren't really reasons for doing an end run around the constitution.

The idea of holding a referendum on this is an interesting twist, making it easier to say that this avoidance of electoral scrutiny is the will of the people. But even if the people like him now, are they going to like him when he's still president in 2020 and hasn't had to go to the polls for 9 years?

Even if it is the will of the people that Mr Nazarbayev remains president until 2020, they can bring this about without having to short circuit their electoral system. Doing it this way just makes the government of Kazakhstan look corrupt and illegitimate, which might be a price it is willing to pay, but it will cost the people even more.

Back on the Bike

So after a long intermission due to breaking my leg, I have finally resumed riding my motorbike. My friends who had been looking after it for me brought it back to me last week. My first ride was sooner than I intended, but when I missed the bus on Friday I figured it was a better option than catching a taxi. I got into work all right, and decided to park in the car park attached to the building I work in. On the way out I learned that when they got rid of the car park attendants it meant they got rid of the cheap parking for bikes, so instead of paying $4 for the day, I paid $8. Still, cheaper than a taxi.

Sunday was when I was planning to get back on the bike. My friends who had been looking after the bike are members of a motorcycle club, and the club was having an open ride to which they invited me along. The ride started somewhere south of the river (I forget the name of the suburb), and we started out riding along the highway to a small town whose name began with a C I think, where we stopped for morning tea/coffee/beer as per people's preference and legal options. Then we went along the back roads to Wyvenhoe Dam. This really highlighted the advantages of a large engine, as at times I was going full throttle and still falling behind the main group. Riding across the dam was interesting as on the right you. Had dry land down below you while on the right the water was unnaturally high up. We had a BBQ lunch in the park near the dam, which gave everyone a chance to chat with each other. After lunch the Brisbanite contingent headed home via Mt Glorious, where I again fell behind the pack and took my time getting up and over the mountain. I spent most of the way up in third and fourth gear, on occasions getting into fifth and once or twice dropping down to second. A final gathering occurred at the petrol station on the other side of the mountain (I was only a few kilometers from having to use my reserve tank by this stage), and then everyone parted ways. I did about 250 kilometers and all in all it was a rather pleasant way to spend a day. I will try and remember to put sunscreen on my neck next time.

Overall getting back on the bike has not been too bad. I'm not entirely gracefully getting on and off yet as I don't have the full flexibility in my knee that I used to yet, and after riding for a while my knee gets a bit sore and stiff (but that also happens if I sit at a desk for too long or walk too far, so that's life really). I am a little bit paranoid about things happening on the right hand side of me and am a little rusty, but that will go away as I get back into things. I think I'll wait a bit longer before regularly commuting with the bike, as the free off street parking has been relocated due to the old location now being a bicycle hire stand and the new location is a bit further away from work and doesn't look to be the flattest walk (downhill slopes are still annoying to walk down)



Group photo of the riders taken at the dam

Green Banking

So the Green's have introduced a bill into parliament intended to put the banks in their place. Or so you might have thought if you just heard the sound bites about forcing the banks to limit changes on home loan interest rates to changes in the Reserve Bank's cash rate. Careful listening actually shows that that idea has yet to be put to parliament.

So, what does the current bill do? Well, it does three things, and I'm not sure how well it achieves what it's intending to do.

Part one says that the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has to introduce a new regulation on banks requiring them to offer a bank account with a minimum set of features with no regular fees, and any fees for certain actions have to be submitted to APRA for approval before they can be applied. No guidelines on what APRA can approve are included other than that the fees should be based on the bank's actual costs. No fees can be charged for withdrawals from the banks own ATMs, and fees for using another banks ATMs should be limited to the actual costs.

The one feature that is required which isn't a default feature now is the ability to access funds using a credit facility. This means every account would have a visa debit like feature (I'm sure mastercard also does this), which I don't think is something everyone needs.

I think most banks already offer accounts like this to people who aren't regular working folks such as students and retirees and such, so the only major impact would be reduced ATM fees and a bunch of bank pamphlets needing reprinting.

Part two requires all banks to offer a fixed interest gap mortgage product. This might sound like a good idea, but given the way the law is written, I can't see it working the way people think it will. The bill says each bank must submit to and get approval from APRA for a formula for calculating the base rate which reflects their cost of borrowing funds, and details on how frequently they will update the base rate. So far so good, but already I can tell you that the banks will likely update the base rate more frequently than people think and it will be much more complicated than base rate = Reserve Bank rate + a bit. The other part of a fixed interest gap mortgage is the fixed interest gap. This is a constant forth length of the mortgage but is negotiated between the bank and the borrower when the loan is originated. No limit is placed on the size of the fixed interest gap so if the banks really want to kill it off a good combination of funky base rate formula plus a huge fixed interest gap will mean no one will actually get one of these.

Part three deals with mortgage exit fees. It requires the banks to submit to and get approval from APRA for a formula linking exit fees to the actual costs involved. Again no guidelines are given to APRA on what should be approved or not, so the only thing holding banks back from something like exit fee = 5 x costs is the requirement that this formula be explained in the marketing material for the mortgage, but I'm sure the banks will manage some obfuscation of what they actually charge.

So we have a requirement for banks to offer a product that they can make as undesirable as they want, another product that they already pretty much offer to a lot of people, and some rules requiring banks get approval of the fees they charge with no clear guidelines on what will be approved or not except for a vague suggestion it be related to the actual costs the banks incur. This could have been a much tougher bill, but that would be a lot tougher to get passed, and then the Greens would have to console themselves to another bill that went nowhere. With this the Greens get to say that they're tough on banks despite the fact that there's more bark than bite.

Abbott and Reform

Recently Tony Abbott gave the 2010 Alfred Deakin speech which was on the topic of reform. As is perhaps to be expected, he used the opportunity to take a swipe at the governments policies without offering much by way of an alternative. Along the way he criticized the NBN, the mining tax, the recent proposed changes to health care funding and carbon pricing, saying none of these are true reform but mere Labor power grabbing at the peoples expense.

I can't say that I agree with his analysis of these subjects. The NBN is an investment in infrastructure that I think will be of much more benefit than could be initially estimated, just as someone trying to estimate the value of building the telephone network decades ago would have failed to consider all the value derived from things utilizing that infrastructure such as faxes, DSL internet and more. I also believe that the NBN is one of those infrastructure systems where having a non commercial standardized underlying system that everyone has access to equally is a good thing. Roads are another example of such a system.

The mining tax, while terribly introduced by the Rudd government is something that to me seems eminently rational. Mining companies dig up minerals from land that is held by the government in trust for all of Australia, so it is only right that they pay the Australian people for what they take. And while the government was suggesting taking a 40% cut, they were also going to take a 40% cut of any losses. And while you may want to haggle over the exact amount, the principle is sound.

Tony also suggests that he is for a market based solution to reducing carbon emissions, and yet opposes introducing a carbon price. I can only ask how can you have a market without a price?

I haven't got anything to say on the matter of health care as I don't know much about the most recent proposals, but my recent time in hospital has made me even more supportive of public health car for all in general.

As an alternative to Labor's "reforms", Tony harkens back to the Howard days for some of his own examples of "reform". Work for the dole, while a good idea, is hardly what I'd call reform. More of a tweak really. And while helping disabled people to live independently is a good thing, doing so by cutting their welfare to drive them into the workforce is hardly the best way to achieve that goal. The only example of reform that wasn't Tony resting on his laurels was a suggestion to raise the tax free threshold to $25,000 and then have a single tax bracket from there's to $180,000, but that comes from the Henry review, which was started by the Rudd government.

Tony also said that in a hung parliament the opposition has an even greater responsibility to not just be the opposition, but to be a credible government in waiting, with viable policies of its own. Based on this I'd say the Coalition has a long way to go yet.

And So It Begins

Sarah Palin has announced that she will run for president in 2012, "if there is no one else to do it." Now that the cat is out the bag, I don't think there's any chance she won't try to become the Republican candidate regardless of who else may put their name forward for the job, regardless of how much more better suited to be president they are.

Since Palin was plucked out of Alaskan obscurity by the McCain campaign she has undoubtedly done well for herself, with spots on Fox, a huge book deal, a documentary series, and so forth. However, while all this may have built up her popularity, she hasn't really shown herself any more suitable to high office than she did while running for VP, and that wasn't really all that good a showing, all things considered.

Across a wide swathe of issues, Palin has come across as lacking in the statesmanship field. Inciting hysteria by dreaming up death panels that didn't exist in the health care bill, provoking hostility to the builders of the Islamic cultural centre in New York, using inflammatory language and encouraging people to reload and take aim at Democrats, and much more paint a picture of someone who is catering to a narrow section of society, and does not particularly care for or respect the rest of it.

Besides for increasing her popularity and her bank balance (both essential nowadays for a wannabe president), she hasn't made much progress on other things necessary to being a good
president. She resigned as governor of Alaska halfway through her term, showing a lack of commitment to the responsibility the voters had entrusted her with, she still hasn't built up any experience with foreign affairs (support our troops is about the closest I've seen from her on foreign affairs, and that's more patriotic jingoism than thought out foreign policy), and policy positions that are a mix of opposing anything the democrats suggest and populist slogans with no thought as to the implications beyond the fact that it rates well now.

I'm not sure I want Palin to run, because although I think if she ran Obama would be a shoe in for reelection, I think it would be better for America if the voters had a choice between two people who would be a good president.

Black and White Cabs invoke my Wrath

Black and White cabs did not make me a happy chappy this morning. So far, I've been using them when I needed to call a cab because their number is easier to remember, but from now I'm going to take the effort to remember the other cab companies number.

I've been catching taxis to work since the buses in the morning are 1) crowded, and 2) really inconveniently timed for the shifts I've got at the moment. And since I'm still getting about on crutches, when I call up, I ask them to get the driver to drive into the yard, as I go down the back stairs. So far, this has about a 30% success rate of actually getting the driver to come into the yard, but so long as they at least park on the driveway I can get around to the driver's side to get in (getting in this side lets me sit with my injured leg on the seat, and I'm not sure I can bend the leg enough yet to get in the front seat).

This morning the cab pulls out in front of the house, and the driver got out and called to me from the gate that he can't get his car into the yard (I'm not sure if he's got some randomly variable width car or something, or he's just scared that a few leafs might ruin his pretty cab). Anyway, I'm wasn't too upset, as I can actually walk out to where the cab is. I do so, and when I get there I ask the driver if he can back the car into the driveway because I have to get in on his side of the car. I asked this because he had parked on the street, and to get in on the drivers side I'd have to hobble onto a reasonably busy road to get into the taxi.

The driver however simply reverses the cab back parallel with the curb, in no way solving the problem of me not wanting to hobble on a busy road. So I gestured to him to show that he should back into the driveway. I'm not sure what went through the driver's mind at this point, but his next action was to jam the cab into gear and drive off at a quite rapid pace.

I wasn't too impressed. My mind briefly toyed with the notion that he might have been going to the roundabout up ahead to do a uturn to get a better turn into the driveway, but that was soon proved false.

And so Black and White Cabs has invoked my wrath. This is perhaps painting a broad brush, as I have had a few good drivers along the way, and a few less than good ones, but this was just ridiculous (the guy who parked out the front where I couldn't see or get to him and caused me to be late at work is another stand out example). I really don't think it's too much to ask that a cab driver give a bit of consideration to a guy on crutches.

As an epilogue, after an angry call to Black and White cabs demanding another taxi, and after waiting I called Yellow cabs who got a taxi to me in a few minutes with driver who was willing to back into the driver so that I could get in the car without risking being on the road, and even was going to open the door for me before I told him I could do it myself.