Party Games 20/54 Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)

Another religious party spouting its ideas that all would be right if we were just good Christians who did what god told us. But what would you expect from a party led by a man who left his church when they "officially decided to part with a literal interpretation of the Judeo-Christian Bible" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Nile).

The policies of such a group aren't going to surprise anyone. Mandatory filtering of the internet, a reduction in taxes on the rich (they want a maximum income tax rate of 30%, although they do also want to raise the tax free threshold), consider freedom of religion to mean freedom to be Christian, no to abortion, no to same-sex marriage, a 10 year ban on Muslim immigrants, no to the carbon tax and deny climate change (well are agnostic about it¹), want all businesses to be closed on Sundays, teach creationism as science in school, support chaplains in schools. It's almost like they were writing the list of ways to get me to not vote for them.

I don't support using a religion as a basis for policy, and I don't like the policies they've developed from that basis. The policies are exclusionary, discriminatory, and controlling.

They have 5 candidates for the senate in NSW.

website: http://www.cdp.org.au/
twitter: @FredNile

1) I find it hilarious that they will take a position of being agnostic on climate change but have no doubts about the god thing. 

Party Games 19/54 Carer's Alliance

Another single issue quick rundown. The Carer's Alliance is about getting more for those with special needs. The disabled, the elderly, the mentally ill. They want more support for these people, as well as giving them more control over how that support is provided (give them the cash, rather than paying a service provider who might not be able to give them exactly what they need). Not surprisingly, they are strongly in favor of the NDIS. The two questions I have are who gets to decide exactly how much support is needed in each case, and where will the extra funds come from?

The Carer's Alliance has 2 candidates for the Senate in NSW.

website: http://www.carers.org.au/

Party Games 18/54 Bullet Train Australia

Another single issue party, but this time an issue I can really get behind. The Bullet Train Australia party wants fast trains for Australia. Having enjoyed the shinkasen in Japan and the KTX in Korea, I appreciate what fast trains can achieve. I'd love to have something like that in Australia.

They've also taken a step that I've not seen from other single issue parties. They have said that any of their candidates who get elected will abstain from voting on non fast train issues, although they leave themselves an escape clause for conscience votes. With this in mind, they have absolutely no positions on anything else. I can see the reasoning behind the decision, but don't see it working if the next parliament is as finely balanced as the last one, or in the senate anytime in the last 15-20 years or so.

website: http://bullettrainforaustralia.com.au/
twitter: @BulletTrainAust
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bullettrainforcanberra

Party Games 17/54 Buliding Australia Party

A logo with an Australia made out of bricks. They are deeply concerned with housing affordability, public transport, public health, and the environment. An odd combination of policies, but as this is the party of the building industry, we'll see just how these tie together.

How to improve housing affordability? In a few ways. More land to build on, subsidizing infrastructure costs, and most importantly, reducing regulation of the industry. They have a really impressive idea on how to do this. They want to set up an Independent Building Commission. This Commission would assess all laws and regulations that affect the Building, Construction and Planning industries. Presumably this would include some sort of power over said laws and regulations or else why bother. The way they describe it is that it would have power over federal, state, and local governments, which is problematic. I also have the strong feeling that they know the type of people they would like on the commission, and that the phrase "regulatory capture" would often be mentioned in criticisms if it were set up.

There other policies also become a bit more understandable when looking at the specifics with the party's background in mind. Better public health is to be achieved by constructing new regional health centres. Public transport should be improved by building new rail links and transport hubs. Their plan to protect the Murray Darling system is to replace existing irrigation infrastructure with new lined and covered channels or pipes. Their position on the right of workers to choose how they work is to enshrine the position of the contractor and sub-contractor.

If you're a builder ready to expand your business, they've got a lot for you. If not, they've got a bunch of your tax dollars that they're ready to spend.

website: http://www.buildingaustralia.org.au/
twitter: @BuildAustralia
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuildingAustraliaParty

Party Games 16/54 Bank Reform Party

The Bank Reform Party just seems to be a rather expensive way of having a whinge about the banks. They bemoan the lack of competition among the big 4, high interest rates (despite interest rates being very low at the moment). They want to promote more competition by encouraging non-bank lenders.

Another fun idea of theirs is to place restrictions on the terms lenders can offer to borrowers to make them less strict on borrowers. Now for a group who are concerned about interest rates, forcing banks to take on greater risks, to which they will respond by raising rates, is of course a good idea.

They don't seem to actually be running any candidates, so you don't have to work out where you need to rank them. For me they'd probably be near the top of the bottom half. Nothing to really vote for, but also nothing bad to make me put them near the bottom of the list.

website: http://brp.org.au/
twitter: @BRPvote1

Party Games 15/54 Australian Voice

Australian Voice have a novel concept for running a party. Rather than the traditional state based sub branches, they have set up sub-branches based on specialist interests, so there's a doctors sub branch, a farmers sub branch, etc, etc. A rather odd choice for a party that feels special interest groups have too much influence.

Policy wise they are a bit of a mixed bag. On the pro side are greater funding for universities and healthcare, high speed railway, and a full review of all the subsidies and concessions businesses get. On the con side are scrapping the carbon tax, introducing levies on imports and ridiculously strict rules for food imports, limiting protected marine parks to an arbitrary round number of 10% (if you say that you want to do a full scientific review to see what amount of protect areas is appropriate while also saying what you want the result to be, you're not being serious about wanting a full scientific review), and providing subsidized loans to farmers. Overall I think the cons outweigh the pros.

Linking to a conspiracy website called truthology that seems to offer a mix of scientology and get rich quick schemes makes me wonder how serious they are.

Australian Voice are running senate Candidates in NSW, WA, Queensland and Victoria, and a few house of representative seats in NSW and Queensland.

Website: http://av.org.au/
twitter: @Voice4Australia

Party Games 14/54 Australian Stable Population Party

The Australian Stable Population Party has identified the root of all our problems. It's too many people. Housing too expensive, too many people. Traffic jams, too many people. Overcrowded schools, too many people. And they have a solution, no more people. From the current population of 23 million, they want us to aim for 26 million at 2050. By my rough calculation, this would require us to stop all immigration and reduce the birth rate to about 75% of it's current level¹.

They have a few ideas on how to achieve this. First is zero net immigration, where immigrants are only allowed in when someone emigrates. This means effectively no immigration². They'll also end the unrestricted immigration of New Zealanders, so any Kiwis who want to come over Second is a getting rid of financial support for children beyond the second, so no birth payments or parental leave for the third kid and beyond. Doing it this way seems a bit harsh, although to be honest I'd rather see the birth payment gotten rid of entirely, but then again quite like the this idea from Finland.


They also feel that what's good for the goose is good for the gander and wants to tie foreign aid with recipients making efforts to reduce their population growth.

Given Australia's rather low population density, I disagree with their rather low numbers for what can be sustained. People have been predicting Malthusian catastrophe's since Malthus in 1798 and it's not happened yet. I think better infrastructure using better technology, more support for high density housing, better mass transit, and so forth would allow us to support many more people in our cities.

They have avoided taking a stand on other policy matters, thinking that population is the be all, end all of concerns. They are running candidates for the senate in every state and territory, plus a handful of house of representative candidates.

Website: http://www.populationparty.org.au/
twitter: @PopulationParty

 1) given a current population of 23 million and a target of 26 million for 2050, assuming a constant rate of growth for the population, the rate of growth r = (26/23)^(1/35) = 1.0035 (I used 35 years instead of 37 as it's a rounder number). For this year that would mean a population gain of 80,000. In 2011 (the most recent year I could find ABS stats for) there were 297,903 births and 146,932 deaths, net growth 150,971 or twice the desired level. Reducing the births to 75% of what it was gets a net population growth of around 75,000, about the level suggested.

2) Emigration of citizens is pretty much balanced out by returning citizens, not leaving much for immigrants under a zero net immigration policy. ABS Migration stats

Party Games 13/54 Australian Sports Party

The Australian Sports Party has a pretty clear focus. Sports. They want us to play more sports. Apparently this is the cornerstone of Australian society and we need to be doing more of it. This is the key to building strong communities and healthy Australians.

Given that I'm not much of an athlete, this is a tough sell to me. The physical exercise I do tends to be of a solitary nature, and trying to cajole me into a team sport isn't going to work. I do broadly support their aims, but question why they need to be a political party to achieve them And it's not like sport doesn't get plenty of government support anyway. From Abbot promising the Broncos a few million before the debate there to the ongoing funding of the AIS, sport gets a pretty easy ride.

Maybe if they were to encourage the sports I like I might be more receptive. Promising support for non-mainstrream sports such as chess boxing, Johan Sebastian Joust, and esports like competitive Starcraft might catch my attention, but they've not done that. They are a blokes party for those who enjoy blokey sports.

Website: http://www.australiansportsparty.com/

Party Games 12/54 The Voluntary Euthanasia Party

To sleep, perchance to dream, or maybe not given the rather unlikely existence of an afterlife. The Voluntary Euthanasia Party is all about people having the right to end their life when all that looms before them is pain. Given that one of the founders is Dr Philip Nitschke, who is also a senate candidate in the ACT (good luck with that (they also have a second senate candidate for the ACT which is either a sign of too much cash or too much optimism)), their position on the matter should be pretty clear.

Thinking about this party has raised an inconsistency in my thinking. I'm generally against suicide on the basis that no matter how bleak and miserable life may be, being alive is better than being dead. However, I've also been generally supportive of the right to choose when you leave this world. Why am I ok with it as an escape from pain and old age, but not from depression and misery. Maybe it is a false contrast of suicide being an escape or cop out, while euthanasia is an acknowledgement that life must end and that it may be better to do so on ones own terms than on the cruel ones nature offers. Both descriptions could be used for each other. Maybe I'm just more willing to accept someone old wanting to end it all while thinking someone younger has more potential. If you only have one or two more years it seems less of a waste than if you have 30-50 more years of life you're throwing away. I think I will need to do some more thinking on the topic before reaching a conclusion.

That said, if you support euthanasia, there are other parties that do so which also have policies on other matters as well. If you care about more than just this issue you may want to look into them and pick one as the Voluntary Euthanasia Party haven't told us what they think of other issues or committed to not voting on other matters, so unless you feel like taking a roll of the dice on their position on the NBN, Carbon Tax, parental leave or other issue of choice, you can probably find another party that supports both that may be a better first choice. If you really want to make a statement about your support of the issue and not so much about other stuff, then they may be your guys.

Website: http://vep.org.au/

Party Games 11/54 Coke In The Bubblers Party

Ah for the days when we were all voting on class captains. A rather meaningless role with no actual consequence except for getting a shiny badge. Or maybe that was just my school. Although at my school no one ever promised coke in the bubblers. I don't think they ever promised anything. It was just a popularity contest. At any rate, it had about as much depth as the Coke in the Bubblers Party.

Their website is rather sparse on details. They do have a page where they say modern politician's are forced by the system to promise big and then not deliver. They then have many pages where the content simply says "Coming Soon". I'm not sure if this is very clever satire or people not realising just how much work they've gotten themselves into setting up a party.

They don't appear to have any policies per se, instead saying that there are a number of issues that they want to encourage discussion on. These include education, the economy and aged care, so it's not like their raising issues being ignored by everyone else.

They also seem to need a better web admin. They have tons of icons suggesting various social media with links that don't work. Hell, my old school style of doing html in vi (I'm sorry emacs, it was on my mac and it was easier than trying to get emacs to work) would result in less links that don't work. They don't even have a twitter account for crying out loud.

Overall, just like the school kid promising Coke in the Bubblers, the Coke in the Bubblers Party have made a promise that sounds good, but they've overlooked all the practical stuff that goes into actually doing what they've promised.

Website: http://www.cokeinthebubblers.com/

Party Games 10/54 Smoker's Rights Party

First up on the single party roadshow is the Smoker's Rights Party. They feel smokers have been hard done by. High taxes on cigarettes, not being able to smoke in public venues, winnie blues no longer coming in a blue packet, it's a hard life. Apparently, slowly killing yourself is too expensive, and not being able to see the logo of your brand and instead getting a picture of what you're doing to yourself is unfair to the manufacturers and promotes black market activities since it's easier to counterfeit a plain packet (because everyone buying on the black market expects to be getting a legit product, or or they think supermarkets, local stores, and servos are going to buy cigarettes of guys off the back of a truck).

That said, I must concede they have a point. Given that I generally put drugs into the "I won't recommend it but I won't stop you from doing it" category, tobacco is just as much a drug as marijuana or alcohol. I guess I disagree with them on the level of taxation. They want taxes on tobacco at a level that covers the costs to the health system, while I'm happy to add on an extra "If you're stupid enough to want to die early, you deserve to be charged more" tax on top of that.

I also think banning smoking in public venues is a good thing. While living abroad I've been to places where there are no restrictions on smoking, and been to bars where the amount of smoke is so much it has stung my eyes. Not having to deal with this in Australian is a good thing.

I am a bit concerned at their claim that 20% of Australians smoke (the Cancer Council would disagree with them though). I had hoped that number would be lower, although I'm confident that they won't get the entire smoker vote.

Website: http://smokersrights.org.au/

Party Games a/54 - Single Issue Party Roundup

I've fallen a bit behind with where I intended to be with this project by this point in time. In order to catch up a bit, I'm going to shuffle around the order a bit and tonight I'm going to focus on some one issue and no-issue parties, as these won't involve as much reading to make sure I'm not misrepresenting them. So let's begin

Party Games 9/54 Australian Sovreignty Party

The Australian Sovereignty Party brings us once again into the realm of the economic fringe. They have two main economic policies that just make one want to weep and then whack them alongside the head with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (which fortunately for this purpose is a pretty hefty tome. That diversion into the history of grain prices may not make for thrilling reading but does help you pack a punch).

First up is their plan to once again have the government create money, and to use this to fund government expenditures. One of the consequences of this will be bringing inflation down to zero. I'll repeat, the government creating money to pay its expenses will have the effect of reducing inflation to zero.

The second is their plan to revamp the tax system. They are going to replace all existing taxes with a debit tax. Every time money leaves one of your bank accounts you get charged a tax of 1% of the amount. This tax will apply to every transaction, so this means each time you transfer money between your accounts, or send money to a family member, or give to charity, you get charged the tax. It also means that there will be ripe opportunities for those who want to work on a cash basis to avoid the system. They estimate that this will bring result in a surplus of $235 billion mainly because it will bring in about twice the revenue the government currently gets. which when they also say that we will all be paying less tax because 1% is less than the current 10% GST does make it sound like someones getting charged somewhere that we're not being told about. Businesses doing lots of bank transactions are going to raise their prices to cover the costs of the extra 1% on every transaction, and I'm sure people aren't going to be happy if the go into overdraft because of the tax being taken out of their bank accounts.

They do better on some other matters. On internet privacy they oppose internet filters, and quite rightly put the onus on parents wanting to protect their children to do so themselves rather than restricting what everyone can access. They support the medicinal use of marijuana, and while not outright supporting decriminalization, encourage a full review of drug laws with that in mind. Their defense plan emphasizes good relationships with neighboring nations, but then diverts into a bit of anti UN spiel.

The ASP is also another proponent of Citizen Initiated Referendums, which again is set up as a way of binding parliament without going to the trouble of changing the constitution. I'm still not sure why so many small right wing parties think these are a good idea.

Website: http://sovereigntyparty.org.au/
twitter: @Aus_Sovereignty

Party Games 8/54 The Australian Sex Party

With a name like the Australian Sex Party you know that they are after attention. Given the rather civil rights focused approach they take with their policies they could easily have chosen other less controversial names to go by. But the Sex Party they are, and they take pleasure in the name they have given themselves.

Their policies cover a wide range of issues but are not comprehensive. They mainly focus on ensuring personal freedom and allowing consenting adults to do what consenting adults want to do. On matters of technology they do well. Opposing mandatory data retention and internet filtering is how they initially got my attention. Easing up on censorship laws, and working to make them uniform across Australia works for me. They are pro gay marriage, pro women's choice for abortion, pro euthanasia, and want drug usage decriminalized and marijuana taxed.

They are also for a secular state. They want to ensure that public schools are free from religion which includes ending the school chaplains program. They also want to remove special tax exemptions for religions, which while something that should be done, they are pushing it in a way that seeks to be confrontational (given the likely response of religious groups, this may just be a matter of getting in first).

When it comes to sex itself, the areas they focus on are better treatment for those working in the sex industry, ensuring equal rights for LGBTIQ (that acronym keeps getting longer doesn't it), better access to sex education, and getting drugs that help with sexual dysfunction on the PBS.

They don't have a policy on the environment (the first party I've come across to lack this), refugees and immigration (again the first party not to have one), and the NBN, while I think that they'd be on the positive side of these issues, given that anyone getting elected will need to deal with these issues, it would be nice to see them state a position on these.

Website: http://www.sexparty.org.au/
twitter: @aussexparty

Party Games 7/54 Australian Democrats

Oh how the mighty have fallen. They who kept the bastards honest. They who forced John Howard to make compromises on the GST. They who then self destructed into what now appears to be farcical oblivion. I didn't realize just how bad things were for the Democrats until I was reading the statement the Pirate Party made on their preferences, and learned of the wreck that the Democrats currently are.

At the moment there are two separate groups claiming to be the Australian Democrats. One has the old logo I remember from years of yore and has candidates and has submitted preferences, the other has the no 1 spot on Google searches for Australian Democrats and better social media presence all round. The AEC are treating it as an internal matter and not really taking a stand other than saying until it's sorted out they won't change the registered officials. There are now questions as to whether the party still has the required 500 members to be a registered party.

So, how do I do this write up. Fortunately, their policies are pretty similar. They support the carbon tax, raising the tax free threshold, better treatment of refugees, greater access to schooling for children with special needs, a national curriculum. Without the personal squabbles, there's really no reason for the split.

As a centrist party they don't take any extreme positions, so there's not much to find there. I really wish they could get back to being in a position to keep the bastards honest, but I'm really not sure if they'll be around for the next election after this one. I'll miss them as they were the first party I was interested in, even if it was due to the fact that Natasha Stott Despoja was on Good News Week a lot, rather than any true political conviction, but I feel that they showed that there was room for a third party to contribute to the Australian political scene by being able to force the major parties to have to make deals rather than just follow their ideologies untempered by others (and indeed, Howard's downfall came only after he finally gained power in the senate). Others have followed in their footsteps in this role, and indeed the last parliament has been a great example of this.

Ultimately I'm still going to have the Democrats high on my ballot paper, but not as high up as they once were.

Website: http://www.australiandemocrats.org.au/ (the one without candidates)
Website: http://www.australian-democrats.org.au/ (the one with candidates)
Twitter: @AusDemocrats (the one without candidates)

By the Numbers 34/52

A rather mixed week.

Wealth

Net cash: $480.88

Got my tax return, but a chunk of that was taken out by the doctor telling me to her an MRI of my knee, something my health insurance doesn't cover (there's a whole rant on that matter).

Jobs applied for: 0

Health

Net Calories: 1581 Calories

Less cardio due to the bad knee and lack of a working treadmill has hit hard, and increased snacking hasn't helped.

Fitocracy points: 385

Weight: I'll check and update this evening as I'm doing this on the bus to work

Life

Bike riding: 92km

Bike broke down on Wednesday. Haven't got it fixed yet. We'll see how it goes. Pushing it home was a good workout.

Books read: 2

I finished Y: The Last Man and the churned through The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Kind of curious how they handled making a movie out of it as it was very much driven by the narrator's internal voice which I'm not sure is easily adaptable to film.

Games played: 13: 11x magic the Gathering (including my first draft tournament) and 2x Hanabi

Party Games 6/54 Australian Protectionist Party

This one's going to be rough. I've haven't sworn at my computer as much as I did while reading the Australian Protectionist Party's policies in quite a while. From the leaflets explaining how mosques in you neighborhood reduce house prices to a tax plan put together by someone who likes round numbers more than actually paying for the expenses of government to a zero net immigration policy, the Australian Protectionist Party are I can't quite decide what.

Let's start with taxes. They're against them. The carbon tax, the mining tax, the GST, payroll tax, it's all bad. It hurts business, it causes paperwork, it reduces incentives to work, it's too high. They'll cut them all. And instead bring in a flat 20% tax with a $20,000 tax free threshold. Now, while I've not gone and found all the stats to work out just how much money this would bring in, it will be a lot less than the existing income tax (less income gets taxed at a significantly lower rate means less tax revenue). So we've got lots of taxes gone altogether, a massively reduced income tax and not much about how they'll cut spending to compensate for this huge drop in funds.

They're also a big fan of trade tariffs, wanting to impose a 10% tariff for all manufactured goods imported. I think I need to do some separate posts on why I disagree with certain policies as I feel I may end up repeating myself a bit. A more unique idea they have is forming an agricultural OPEC to get more money for agricultural exports (because if cartel for oil works, why not one for food?).
 
Immigration. A zero net immigration policy. Immigration on a one out, one in basis. This pretty much means no immigration. They also want an immigration policy that supports a homogenous society, by which they mean excludes Muslims and people from the Third world (although South Africa is on the list of countries it's ok to immigrate from).

Before I get too negative they do have some ideas I agree with. As part of their environment policy they want to encourage new energy sources such as solar, wind, and nuclear power. They want to build light rail networks and cycle-ways, and have more electric cars. They also want to have all government documents printed only in English to save paper so you can't win them all. Another positive is the cute girl they have modeling their t-shirt (you can tell I'm stretching for things here).

They have some people running for the house in WA, and senate candidates in Queensland and New South Wales. Senate preferences have the Coalition ahead of Labor.

website: Australian Protectionist Party
twitter: @AustProtParty

Party Games 5/54 Australian Fishing & Lifestyle Party

It's probably not going to be a big surprise if I tell you that the Australian Fishing & Lifestyle Party are fans of fishing, both commercial and amateur. They say that we should be able to do much more of both with much less government interference.

The general framework they set out for their policies have some hits and misses. Use of scientific data in the decision making process, respecting ethnic diversity, standardization of transport and communication services Australia wide, and recognizing the value of research and investment are all sensible starting points. I find it harder to get behind placing Australian sovereignty above international obligations because 1) it is an exercise of sovereignty to agree to a treaty in the first place, and 2) if we set a precedent of not complying with an obligation just because we don't like it anymore, it will be that much harder for us to convince other nations to comply later on.

The policies they have specifics on are encouraging greater commercial fishing where they believe we can significantly increase catches without impacting fish populations, making amateur fishing something promoted by all levels of government (provide infrastructure for, sure, I'm not sure if the government should be an advocate for a hobby though), the encouragement of the aquaculture industry, and greatly limiting the power of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

This last part is where I start to see some inconsistencies. Despite stating that use of scientific data in the decision making process is a part of their policy framework, in making the case that there is no threat to the reef from humans they say that the existing threats to the reef are weather events such as cyclones (no humans there), climate change (we've pretty much been caught red handed on that one), and sea level change (melting icecaps anyone?). To say climate change is not caused by human activity makes me doubt their commitment to the use of scientific data in making decisions, which then makes me wonder about their other policies such as where they say that catch levels can be set much higher without impacting biodiversity or population levels. They also say pollution and invasive species such as the Crown of Thorn are not significant threats to the reef (although given the size of the Great Barrier Reef, the word "significant" probably gives you a lot of wriggle room in these matters)

I have them pegged as a bit of a mixed bag. Some good ideas, some doubts, and ultimately their focus is on something I don't particularly care about (I've been fishing once in my life, and while it was a pleasant enough day it's not something I'm going to dedicate my life or my vote to.

The AFLP has two candidates running for the senate in Queensland. Preferences are to some small parties first (Australian Independents, Australian Christians, and the Australian Motor Enthusiasts Party are the first 3 preferenced). The LNP comes before Labor, and the Greens are placed last.
 
website: Australian Fishing & Lifestyle Party

Party Games 4/54 Australia’s First Nations Political Party

The Australia’s First Nations Political Party is a Northern Territory based party advocating for Aboriginal issues. Their focus is pretty strong on this area. Major policy objectives they have include a roll back of the Northern Territory intervention, recognition of First Nations peoples leading to a treaty with the government, respect for the environment, and statehood for the Northern Territory.

I'm pretty positive on most of these matters. I think the intervention was horribly conceived and executed, so agree with rolling it back. A treaty similar to the one New Zealand has with the Maori people is something I support in principle, but would want to see specifics before committing myself. Respect for the environment is a given.

Statehood for the Northern Territory is an interesting one. The constitution doesn't require a new state to get the same level of representation in the house and senate as original states (Tasmania has more representatives than its population would otherwise entitle it too because as an original state it gets a minimum of 5 members in the house of Representatives) so the issue of such a sparsely populated area getting a significantly beefed up presence in government isn't a necessary outcome, but I think those pushing for statehood would want to see a greater presence than there currently is. This would be a delicate negotiation. In becoming a state NT would get greater independence from the federal government (I don't think something like the intervention would be possible). I'm sure there would also be some transfer of powers from the federal government to the new state, but I don't know enough about how the NT is currently set up to say with any certainty what powers would specifically be involved. I won't say I support NT statehood, but I don't oppose the idea, with caveats that I'd need to see a specific proposal before making a decision on the matter.

The Australia’s First Nations Political Party is only running candidates in the Northern Territory. They have two senate candidates and two candidates for the house of representatives (which is every available seat in the NT). Preferences are to all the other small parties first, then the Greens, the Country Liberal Party, and in last Labor. Given that NT's two senate seats usually get split 1 each Labor and Country Liberals, the preferences probably won't come into play.

website: Australia’s First Nations Political Party

Party Games 3/54 Australian Christians

First up, I'm an atheist, so the Australian Christians are always going to find me a tougher sell than other people. When you say that you have formulated gold standard policies, based on biblical principles, I'm going to ask just why those principles are relevant to 1) Me, and 2) governing Australia. We have a nominally secular government (section 116 of the constitution) so to say that you want to govern using religious text as the basis for your policies gives me cause for concern.

Given that they are a Christian based party, some of the policies that they have aren't all that surprising. No to gay marriage, no to abortion, more funding going to religious schools, no to euthanasia, yes to internet censorship, abstinence only sex ed. They don't specifically mention contraception, but I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying they're against it.

Their environment policy says we should take care of the planet god gave us which includes doing things like reducing pollution and ensuring development is sustainable, so they aren't as bad as some Christian groups that say global warming can't be happening because God wouldn't let it. They don't go into much detail, but their environment policy does follow the broad outlines I look for, so they do have that going for them. I am a little worried that "Recognising our shared global responsibility in reducing pollution" might mean not doing anything about pollution while China and the US continue to pollute, but don't have much to back that up with.

I'm not sure they quite get the meaning of religious freedom though. In that section of their policy list they say that they want to see parliament continue to be opened with Christian prayers and that the government has a responsibility to uphold Christian traditions. That their understanding of religious freedom is limited to freedom for their religion shows that they've kind of missed the point of religious freedom. They also want to give preference to Christian asylum seekers over Muslim asylum seekers.

Australian Christians are running candidates for the Senate in Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, West Australia and South Australia, and candidates for the House in WA, Tasmania, and Victoria. Preferences are to various small parties first, and putting the Coalition ahead of Labor.

website: http://australianchristians.com.au/
twitter: @OzChristians

Party Games 2/54 Australia First Party

The Australia First Party. Where do I start? Xenophobic, jingoistic, over the top on law enforcement, economically niave. I have to say there's not much about this party I like.

Their law enforcement plan is to eliminate all the state police departments and the AFP and create one nationwide police force, constitutional issues not withstanding, eliminate trial by jury, the reintroduction of capital punishment, and the abolition of parole. They want a zero tolerance approach to drugs.

On economics they are just woeful. They want to create a domestic oil market independent of the world market. This they expect will result in lower prices in Australia than on the international market, because of course oil companies won't sell to overseas buyers who will pay more. They want to create a national bank that will provide subsidized loans for home buyers and businesses. They want to set up a national market and pricing system for food with the government setting prices. They want to nationalize all superannuation funds and restrict them to investing in Australia. On the tax side of things, they want to replace most taxes with a debit tax, so each time money comes out of one of your bank accounts, you get taxed on that. Note this includes paying a friend back some money they lent you, donating to charity, giving money to a family member in need and more, and doesn't pick up anything done on a cash only basis.

They are very much of the Australia is for Australians only persuasion. They want to eliminate foreign ownership of land and resources, the promoting of European culture and values in schools and government, and renouncing all international treaties we have signed.

They are one of several parties wanting the introduction of citizen initiated referendums. Given how well this has turned out for various states in America, I have my doubts about this. Like other parties wanting citizens initiated referendums they want the referendums to have the strength of a constitutional amendment without having to go through all the work of amending the constitution.

Their preferences seem to be going to other small right wing parties first. They have done something interesting when it comes to the two big parties, which are about halfway down the ticket. They have alternated between Labor and the Coalition, starting with the lowest ranked candidate in each party and working their way up to each party's no 1 candidate.

I've not sent them an email with questions about their policies as I couldn't find an email address or any contact details on their website other than a phone number on one of their press releases from a year or so ago which I haven't tried. They also appear to have no presence on facebook or twitter.

website: http://australiafirstparty.net/

Party Games 1/54 The Animal Justice Party

First up is the Animal Justice Party. Opposed to anything that may harm animals. The core of their philosophy are the five freedoms they say all animals should enjoy. These are
1: freedom from hunger and thirst
2: freedom from discomfort
3: freedom from pain, injury and disease
4: freedom to express normal behaviour
5: freedom from fear and distress

From these five freedoms they build up their policies which include banning circuses and rodeos, banning the sale of dogs and cats by pets stores, prohibiting animal shelters to put down animals, legal recognition of animals as sentient being, greatly reduced experimentation on animals (one of the conditions that they place on animal experimentation is that it benefits the species of animal being experimented upon), banning the hunting of animals for recreation, massive reforms of farming practices, banning live export of animals, greater protection of wildlife, eliminating the property status of animals, and more.

In terms of policies and positions the Animal Justice Party reminds me a lot of PETA, a fact that does not help them to get my vote. While I certainly agree one should not be cruel to animals or cause them pain for no reason, animals don't require the same level of care and protection as people. Giving them special status that they can not be considered property seems to me to be counter productive to helping protect animal welfare, and would open up the mother of all demands for compensation from farmers (Can you imagine a farmers reaction when told he doesn't own his livestock anymore?).

For me the answer of how do we protect animals from human cruelty (because I see little here about protecting animals from each other) is not to put humans and animals on an equal footing in terms of laws and rights, because quite frankly we're not, but to educate and enlighten. For many of their policies I find I agree with the intention, but the implementation is too much (yes, I would like to see koala populations restored, but a target population of 1 million (which is around 200 times the current population) seems very high)

The Animal Justice Party is very much a single issue party. They have no policies on the NBN, healthcare, education, the economy, or the carbon tax.

The Animal Justice Party is running candidates for the Senate in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, West Australia, South Australia and the ACT, and are not contesting any seats in the House of Representatives. They have given preferences highly to the Australian Democrats and the Stable Population Party, but I'm guessing most of the preferences will end up going to the Greens in the end.

website: http://www.animaljusticeparty.org/
twitter: @AJP_Australia

Party Games 0/54

As many of you are aware, an Australian Federal election is coming up on September 7th. You may not know that a record high 1,717 candidates are standing for seats in the house or senate around Australia from 54 different parties. Rather than going by some of my previous voting methods which have included rolling dice, asking questions on the day, and going by how many of their members have appeared on Good News Week (I joined the UQ Australian Democrats club but never attended any meetings on the basis of Natasha Stott Despoja's many appearances on GNW), this time I'm making an effort to be informed.

To achieve this I'm reading up on every one of the 54 registered parties, and I'm going to give each one a bit of a write up here. I'm currently at around 30/55 so still have a bit to do, but I'm hoping to churn through the rest before the end of next week.

I'm also sending an email of questions to each party. Depending on how detailed the information they have on their websites are, the questions are usually about 1/3-1/2 questions about their policies, and the rest are some general questions I'm putting to every questions. These general questions include "Who would you try to make a deal with in the event of a hung parliament?", "How does your party decide on policies?", "Why should I vote for you?", and some other similar questions. These general questions may be cut where the policies are pretty clear where they stand on a matter (I didn't feel the need to ask the No Carbon Tax (Climate Sceptics) party what they thought of the Carbon Tax for example).

In doing the write ups I'm going to try to be fair, but I'm also going to be giving my assessment of the parties. If I think they're crazy, I'll say so, but I'll give my reasons why. I'll try and present pros as well as cons, things I agree with and disagree with.

So far I've not had much success in getting responses to my emails (1 actual response, 3 read our websites, and a few automated we've got your email and will get back to you as soon as we can). I had initially been planning on waiting for responses before doing the write ups, but since it turns out I've been wildly optimistic about the response rate I'd get, I'm going to do the write ups and if I get a response I'll do a follow up.

In terms of order of write up, I'm generally going in alphabetical order, with a few exceptions. A half dozen parties were registered after I got my initial list of parties from the AEC website (the full list of parties), so they got tacked onto the end of the list. I'm also going to save the major parties (by which I mean parties with more than 1 person in parliament already, so the ALP, the Coalition, and the Greens) for last, as they get a heck of a lot of coverage already.

By the Numbers 33/52

Mixed results this week.

Wealth
Net Cash: $178.67
Pretty much balances out last week.
Jobs Applied for: 1
A friend said their company is recruiting someone for data entry type stuff, which if it pays better and gets me off the phones is probably worth switching for, but still not my end goal. Haven't heard back yet from my current work about the interview from the week before last.

Health
Net Calories: 3844 Calories
Yeah, an entire pizza for dinner on Friday was not a good idea, even if it was one of the smaller chef's best ones from Dominos (that said adding bacon to a Hawaiian pizza is genius). Snacks while watching World's End on Sunday also contributed.
Fitocracy Points: 0
Yep, no exercise this week. My knee is still sore.
Weight: 93 kg
And with all that, I manage to drop some weight.

Life
Bike riding: 448 km
Books read: 0
Still working through The Art of Thinking Clearly as well as Y: The Last Man
Games Played: 10, Gunship:Afterburners, 3x Dominion: Intrigue + Guilds, 1x Hanabi (which I now own a copy of), 5x Magic: The Gathering
Movies seen: World's End
Not as great as the other Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Edgar Wright films, it had its good moments but just didn't have the consistency of quality the others did and it was harder to buy into the scenario (which given we're talking about zombies and a homicidal conspiracy to win town of the year is saying a lot)

By The Numbers 32/52

I got back from Sydney late last night so I left the write up to tonight.

Wealth
Net Cash: -$182.63
Taxis account for a good chunk of this. Eating out in Sydney was another chunk. A bit too much snacking while at work didn't help either.
Jobs Applied for: 1
I once again put my name forward for a different job at work. The same one I've applied for 3 times before. But since they didn't appoint anyone last time, and they gave me another interview, I can't have been completely ruled out.

Health
Net Calories: 889 Calories
I indulged a little in Sydney, and ate a bit more in general expecting a rather big deficit that didn't occur
Weight: 95kg
Fitocracy points: 790
I did a 5km jog/walk on Monday, some circuit training at a place on the corner on Wednesday, and indoor rock climbing on Friday. Notably absent is the 14km fun run I mentioned last week. I banged up my knee on Friday night (it was ok after the rock climbing, but I woke up on Saturday with it being sore and a bit wobbly), and while it's ok to walk on, I don't think it was up to 14km of jogging/walking. I was fretting all day how I'd tell my sister who got me to sing up for the run that I couldn't do it, then an hour before my flight got a text saying she wouldn't meet me at the airport because she'd twisted her ankle. So we just had a relaxing day hanging out in Sydney instead.

Life
Bike riding: 282 km
Books read: 1
I finished the Thrawn trilogy. I'm now working through "The Art of Thinking Clearly", which is more a field guide to cognitive biases than a how to guide. I bought it at the airport as according to Dymocks it was National Bookstore Day, which was a good enough excuse for me to buy a new book (I think it may be just a made up thing to encourage people to actually go to book stores instead of buying online, but still who doesn't need more books?).
Games played: 2: St Petersburg and Fruit Ninja: The Card Game

By the Numbers 31/52

A rather standard week overall

Wealth
Net Cash: -$391.43
Big ticket item was return plane tickets for the Sydney City to Surf my sister has roped me into participating in. I fly down Saturday evening, Sunday morning is a 14km run, and then I fly back 7pm Sunday night. Should be fun. Also, the first proper grocery shopping since getting back from Melbourne (I shouldn't need to go shopping again for 2 weeks)
Jobs Applied for: 0

Health
Net Calories: -2494 Calories
A good result, mainly from extra exercise in preparation for the aforementioned City to Surf.
Weight: 94 kg
 Fitocracy points: 3035
A lot of time on the treadmill at a faster pace than I usually do to the point I may have burned out the motor on the treadmill, and some indoor rock climbing on Saturday
Fitocracy level: 16

Life
Bike riding: 364 km
Books read: 0
Games played: 8, Through the Ages, Castle Dice, 6x Magic: The Gathering

Because of Nothing, the Confusion is Great (paghmo' tIn mIs)

So I got around to seeing Much Ado About Nothing. Not my usual fare, but with Joss Whedon directing and the cast including Amy Acker, Nathan Fillion, Alexis Denisof, Tom Lenk, Agent Coulson (I should know his real name and I can't be bothered doing an IMDB search), Toufer (Franz something, another IMDB search I should do), Garkunkel (or Oates), and more, I was prepared to try something out of my regular fare. Overall, I enjoyed the film and thought it was well done.

I quite liked the way Whedon mixed the old language of the play with modern visual cues. The lords and princes are identified by suits, official photographers and bodyguards with earpieces talking into their wrists, the watch are cops with CSI sunglasses, and so on.

In terms of the language, they appear to have stuck pretty well to the original play (I say appear because I've not really read the original play. I own a copy but it's a dual language copy and when I attempted to read it I was more focused on the non-English version), which apart from a few instances where Beatrice and Benedick were verbally sparring where it got a bit too quick, was easy to understand.

The casting seemed very much to have been Joss Whedon calling up people he's liked working with before, as nearly all the cast have been involved in at least one Whedon production before this. A random thought I had during the film was what sort of character Amy Acker would have had if she'd appeared on Firefly, but I think Firefly was over before Acker entered the Whedonsphere. 

Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof both put in great performances, especially when playing off each other.

The only bit that I didn't get fully behind was the plot, which seemed to be highly contrived and not make much sense at all, but I'm sure it worked better with the crowds of Shakespeare's time, and the fact that it's being remade says it still has some resonance.

Thank you to the various people who recommended it to me, as otherwise it may have gone onto the I'll watch it someday list rather than the I've seen and enjoyed it list it now sits in.

Why I Bleed

Last week I went and gave blood. This would not normally be blogworthy, but this marked a milestone in that it was my 25th donation so I felt some sort of reflection on the topic was in order.

There are two main reasons I give blood. The first is that it's one of the few pure, selfless things I do. Apart from some sausage rolls afterwards and the getting a badge every so often I don't gain anything out of it. A random stranger gets something that will help them live and all it costs me is some time. The ethical calculus is pretty clear this is a good thing to do. And in a life that isn't big in getting involved in things and doing stuff to contribute, a pure selfless act is a good thing to throw in every now and then.

The other, bigger reason why I give blood is that it is something that I grew up with. Many were the times as a kid when my sister and I would sit on the sides of the bed/chair bit while my mother was giving blood. Mum is O-, and while she was able to was a pretty regular donor. Giving blood was even a rite of passage. On my sixteenth birthday after school Mum came into town (I was at boarding school at the time) and we went and I gave my first donation.

Since then I've not been as consistent as I'd like, and living overseas for a bit didn't help either. That should no longer be a problem as the Red Cross are much more organized about this now, and will automatically book your next appointment for you and send you reminders a few weeks out, making it much easier to not forget about it. In fact, why not make an appointment now?

By The Numbers 30/52

Not quite back into the regular swing of things.

Wealth
Net Cash: $216.85
eBay sales cancelled out post-PAX splurge in Melbourne, and frugal living the rest of the week made for a nice result
Jobs applied for: 1
I did do this this evening just so I wouldn't have two zeros in a row, so could be better.

Health
Net Calories: ?
Monday was a bit hard to keep track of as I was out socialising most of the day between a coffee shop walkabout with some other enforcers and the after party in the evening. For Tuesday to Sunday I'm 94 Calories over my target
Weight: 94 kg
I guess Monday wasn't that bad, or there was more walking than I thought.
Fitocracy points: 0
Bad me
Blood donations: 1
Blood donation badges received: 1
I add a 25 donation badge to my 10 donation badge. I hope to get to 50 before 2020 (It's a long term goal)

Life
Bike Riding: 155 km
Back to work on the weekend after having most of the week off after PAX
Books read: 1, The God Argument by AC Grayling. Somewhat preaching to the choir for me, but good to be exposed to the arguments I try to put forward for my philosophy of life presented in a much better way than I can usually manage. He did seem to put a bit more emphasis on the right to euthanasia than I was expecting.
Games played: 2: bowling and an online game of Roll Through the Ages. Missed all my semi-regular gaming nights this week

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.