So, I heard back about the data analyst job I went to the test on last Friday. Apparently I did quite well on the test, and I have a phone interview with the data teams manager on Monday morning. As interviews go, phone interviews are ok. You don't need to get dressed up for a start. So I just need to make sure I'm up and alert by 8 am on Monday, and all should go well. It is kind of odd in that they've said they don't want someone who wants a career in finance, or sort of high flyer type people. I guess it depends on how you interpret it. The spin the recruitment company has put on it is that they want people who like what they do and want to do it, and that they reward those who do good work, not people who are looking at it as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.
In terms of where I want to go with jobs I don't know. I do know I don't want to go into management type stuff. Leading is not my strong suit. I'm much more comfortable and capable in a supporting role. Once we know what needs doing, I can get things done. I think a military analogy would be senior NCO as opposed to officer. I would like a job that becomes bigger as I learn more and become more capable. And I wouldn't mind staying in the one job for a few years if it was a good job that continued to interest me.
In other news, I got into the google pages beta the other day. Check out http://kevin.brake.googlepages.com. It's got a rough version of the website I'm putting together for the house. However the content is mostly mine (there's a link to one of my housemate's blog, but that's about it).
My hometown got hit by Cyclone Larry earlier this week. My grandmothers roof was damaged, and the house Mum owns up there was destroyed. Given that it needed some major work to bring it back up to scratch, and that Mum had rented it out to a few people who needed a hand but decided to then bite that hand, some would make the case that so long as the insurance is enough to pay of the loan, she should sell the land and find something better to invest in. And leave the management of any future rental properties to a rental agency. I know if I ever get a rental property, I'm going to go to a real estate agent and say "Here is my property. I would like you to rent it for me. I would like to receive some money each month, and have you take care of everything else, and you can have a cut of the action", and let them take it from there. Of course, that assumes I ever get enough money to buy a rental property.
End post
writing time: 40 minutes
time since last post: 6 days
current media: geeknights
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Friday, March 17, 2006
Testing
I kind of had an interview today. It was actually a test. The questions were a combination of a few simple puzzles (magic square, a variation on the Monty hall problem), and a few were programming methods of doing certain tasks. I think it went pretty well, my main concern leaving was if they would be able to read my handwriting (there's a reason why all of my submitted work at university, and indeed high school was typed wherever possible). They said they'll get back to me on Monday to let me know if I've made it to the next stage of the selection process. It actually looks like an interesting job, and it's the first time I've gone into a company after sending in a resume and they've actually tested the ability to work things out, rather than doing psychological tests or just testing your ability to remember details.
This afternoon after seeing a link to one in a forum I've started lurking in (I think today I made my second post in about 3 weeks) I did a few online personality tests. These sort of thing usually only tell you things you already know, but sometimes an outside perspective can make things clearer, but I don't really make life changing decisions based on them. The three tests I did there were the Nerd? Geek? or Dork? test, the which Buffy character are you, and cause there was a link at the end of each of those, the lover style test. Results are as follows.
Pure Nerd
60 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 47% Dork
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.
The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendencies associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.
Willow Rosenberg
45% amorality, 63% passion, 72% spirituality, 27% selflessness
Likely you're stronger on the inside than most people would give you credit for: like Willow, you're a decent person with both passions and a spiritual side, sometimes struggling for control.
The Exotic Lover
45% partner focus, 9% aggressiveness, 55% adventurousness Based on the results of this test, it is highly likely that:
You prefer your romance and love to wild and daring rather than typical or boring, you would rather be pursued than do the pursuing and, when it comes to physical love, you concentrate more on enjoying the experience rather than worrying about your performance.
This places you in the Lover Style of: The Exotic Lover.
The Exotic Lover is a wonderful Lover Style, and conjures images of the exotic, romantic hero out of a romance novel, or perhaps a slightly dangerous and deadly sexy femme fatale from a noir mystery. The Exotic Lover loves pleasure and is a treasure to date, though it can be difficult to do so because they sometimes tend to be mysterious and reluctant to commit.
In terms of physical love, the Exotic Lover can be quite surprising, as they are often more exciting and adventurous than predicted. Given a little freedom, and the right lover, the Exotic Lover can be a delight in bed.
Best Compatibility can probably be found with: The Liberated Lover (most of all) or the Devoted Lover, or the Romantic Lover.
These sorts of test have a curious attraction. I remember a few years ago the purity test was popular in my social group. Some people got surprisingly low scores. My score was rather high. That sort of thing occasionally sort of gets me feeling that I'm not doing enough with life. I think I should try and find a new hobby, something with a bit wider appeal that is also social. That would at least get me out there meeting new people. I don't like dancing, so that's not an option. If anyone actually reads this and has a suggestion, please leave a comment.
Finally, I'm going to give the Japanese place down the road a try tonight. I just hope they do teriyaki, otherwise I may have to reconsider.
End post
writing time: 50 minutes
time since last post: 6 days
current media: Itunes on party shuffle (Currently part of Carmina Burana is playing)
This afternoon after seeing a link to one in a forum I've started lurking in (I think today I made my second post in about 3 weeks) I did a few online personality tests. These sort of thing usually only tell you things you already know, but sometimes an outside perspective can make things clearer, but I don't really make life changing decisions based on them. The three tests I did there were the Nerd? Geek? or Dork? test, the which Buffy character are you, and cause there was a link at the end of each of those, the lover style test. Results are as follows.
Pure Nerd
60 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 47% Dork
For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.
The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendencies associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.
Willow Rosenberg
45% amorality, 63% passion, 72% spirituality, 27% selflessness
Likely you're stronger on the inside than most people would give you credit for: like Willow, you're a decent person with both passions and a spiritual side, sometimes struggling for control.
The Exotic Lover
45% partner focus, 9% aggressiveness, 55% adventurousness Based on the results of this test, it is highly likely that:
You prefer your romance and love to wild and daring rather than typical or boring, you would rather be pursued than do the pursuing and, when it comes to physical love, you concentrate more on enjoying the experience rather than worrying about your performance.
This places you in the Lover Style of: The Exotic Lover.
The Exotic Lover is a wonderful Lover Style, and conjures images of the exotic, romantic hero out of a romance novel, or perhaps a slightly dangerous and deadly sexy femme fatale from a noir mystery. The Exotic Lover loves pleasure and is a treasure to date, though it can be difficult to do so because they sometimes tend to be mysterious and reluctant to commit.
In terms of physical love, the Exotic Lover can be quite surprising, as they are often more exciting and adventurous than predicted. Given a little freedom, and the right lover, the Exotic Lover can be a delight in bed.
Best Compatibility can probably be found with: The Liberated Lover (most of all) or the Devoted Lover, or the Romantic Lover.
These sorts of test have a curious attraction. I remember a few years ago the purity test was popular in my social group. Some people got surprisingly low scores. My score was rather high. That sort of thing occasionally sort of gets me feeling that I'm not doing enough with life. I think I should try and find a new hobby, something with a bit wider appeal that is also social. That would at least get me out there meeting new people. I don't like dancing, so that's not an option. If anyone actually reads this and has a suggestion, please leave a comment.
Finally, I'm going to give the Japanese place down the road a try tonight. I just hope they do teriyaki, otherwise I may have to reconsider.
End post
writing time: 50 minutes
time since last post: 6 days
current media: Itunes on party shuffle (Currently part of Carmina Burana is playing)
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Survival of the fittest
So last Sunday I joined up to the university's gym. A few weeks ago I had some medical issues, and the advice the doctor gave me was to improve my general fitness. Since then I've started taking walks around the university, a distance of about 4 or so kilometers. One of my housemates is also wanting to get fitter, and was planning joining up, and so encouraged me to do the same. So I joined up. And I've gone to use some of the exercise machines most days since then. Most days I've just done 20 minutes on an exercise bike, but on Thursday there were no spare bikes so I used an elliptical walking machine. That was a lot more strenuous then the bike.
I've also been applying for a few jobs. One of them had me do some online test about what I thought good management was. Given that it was for a graduate entry position and not a management one I'm not quite sure why they were asking the questions they did. Perhaps they're looking for people who accept what they think is bad management. But there were two things about the online testing that got to me. First, the recruitment company, which was itself acting on behalf of the company actually looking for a new employee, got another company to do the testing. The other thing is the terms of use for the testing site were rather onerous, and the privacy policy can be summarized as: we won't give out your name, address and date of birth. Although they termed it as personally identifying information. They also demanded perpetual rights to use your responses in any media they saw fit. It was very much one sided. I did consider sending an email to the recruitment company saying I wasn't comfortable with the terms, but in the end decided to go ahead with it, mainly because I didn't think they'd be very receptive to this and the fact that apart from a few personal details, all of it was answers to their questions. But if I get any further with the recruitment process, I'll bring it up with them.
A few days ago I tried to put together a few thoughts on the role of government in modern society and what I thought were effective ways to moderate the powers and responsibilities of government, but I got bogged down in how to start the whole thing and what points I wanted to make. I shall make another attempt later on, and hopefully actually get something down in type.
End post
writing time: 2 hours 30 minutes
time since last post: 7 days
Current media: The Combat Information Center
I've also been applying for a few jobs. One of them had me do some online test about what I thought good management was. Given that it was for a graduate entry position and not a management one I'm not quite sure why they were asking the questions they did. Perhaps they're looking for people who accept what they think is bad management. But there were two things about the online testing that got to me. First, the recruitment company, which was itself acting on behalf of the company actually looking for a new employee, got another company to do the testing. The other thing is the terms of use for the testing site were rather onerous, and the privacy policy can be summarized as: we won't give out your name, address and date of birth. Although they termed it as personally identifying information. They also demanded perpetual rights to use your responses in any media they saw fit. It was very much one sided. I did consider sending an email to the recruitment company saying I wasn't comfortable with the terms, but in the end decided to go ahead with it, mainly because I didn't think they'd be very receptive to this and the fact that apart from a few personal details, all of it was answers to their questions. But if I get any further with the recruitment process, I'll bring it up with them.
A few days ago I tried to put together a few thoughts on the role of government in modern society and what I thought were effective ways to moderate the powers and responsibilities of government, but I got bogged down in how to start the whole thing and what points I wanted to make. I shall make another attempt later on, and hopefully actually get something down in type.
End post
writing time: 2 hours 30 minutes
time since last post: 7 days
Current media: The Combat Information Center
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Ten years, web stuff and a new keyboard
Today I got a new keyboard and mouse. My main motivation for doing so was that I wanted a wireless keyboard, so that I can type without having to be right up at my desk. Right now, I'm leaning back in by chair with the keyboard in my lap. It also has lots of extra buttons to do things like close windows, start programs and control media. The media buttons work pretty well with I tunes, so that's good.
Going over the news at wikinews, I noticed that not only has it recently been the tenth anniversary of John Howard becoming PM, it's ten years since Bob Brown got elected to the senate. Bob is a leader within the Green movement, and certainly the preeminent Green in parliament, indeed for the first four years, the only Green. Since his election, the Greens have made gains at each subsequent election, and if they keep things going the way they have, look poised to replace the Democrats as the third party of Australian politics.
I think it's good to have more than just (effectively) two parties in the government. For some time, the Democrats were making an effort to fill that role, but given a rapid turnover of party leaders and other factors, have begun what seems to be a self destruct sequence. Thus, while I don't agree with all of the Greens policies, I look forward to them becoming a more significant factor in politics in the future.
Given my lack of work at the moment, I've been spending more time than usual on the web. For the past few days I've been reading Questionable Content. QC is a web comic about a few people, two of whom live together and seem to be interested in each other, but for various reasons don't act on it. It's a pretty good comic, and has also prompted some introspection. It's also made me think if the friend who showed it to me didn't have some sort of ulterior motive in doing so, as I can see certain parallels between some of the characters and certain facets of my own life.
I've also joined up to listal.com, a service that allows you to list all the media (books, cds, dvds, games) that you own, and lets you see what other people who have the same things you have also have. It also has forums and groups. I was quite disappointed to find out that my bookshelf, that on each shelf has books, then books in front of books, books on top of books and books on top of books in front of books, only actually holds about 230 books. It also allows you to see who your preferred authors, actors, directors, etc are by showing you who you have the most of in those various categories. It also allows you to enter items that you want. My main gripe against listal is that it focuses on the US and England media, so very little of the Australian books, and none of the region 4 dvds were recognized. While this mostly has to do with the fact that it rips most of the data from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk, it is a bit frustrating.
End Post
writing time: 1 hour (includes a trip to the shops)
time since last post: 4 days
current media: You by VAST (iTunes on shuffle)
Going over the news at wikinews, I noticed that not only has it recently been the tenth anniversary of John Howard becoming PM, it's ten years since Bob Brown got elected to the senate. Bob is a leader within the Green movement, and certainly the preeminent Green in parliament, indeed for the first four years, the only Green. Since his election, the Greens have made gains at each subsequent election, and if they keep things going the way they have, look poised to replace the Democrats as the third party of Australian politics.
I think it's good to have more than just (effectively) two parties in the government. For some time, the Democrats were making an effort to fill that role, but given a rapid turnover of party leaders and other factors, have begun what seems to be a self destruct sequence. Thus, while I don't agree with all of the Greens policies, I look forward to them becoming a more significant factor in politics in the future.
Given my lack of work at the moment, I've been spending more time than usual on the web. For the past few days I've been reading Questionable Content. QC is a web comic about a few people, two of whom live together and seem to be interested in each other, but for various reasons don't act on it. It's a pretty good comic, and has also prompted some introspection. It's also made me think if the friend who showed it to me didn't have some sort of ulterior motive in doing so, as I can see certain parallels between some of the characters and certain facets of my own life.
I've also joined up to listal.com, a service that allows you to list all the media (books, cds, dvds, games) that you own, and lets you see what other people who have the same things you have also have. It also has forums and groups. I was quite disappointed to find out that my bookshelf, that on each shelf has books, then books in front of books, books on top of books and books on top of books in front of books, only actually holds about 230 books. It also allows you to see who your preferred authors, actors, directors, etc are by showing you who you have the most of in those various categories. It also allows you to enter items that you want. My main gripe against listal is that it focuses on the US and England media, so very little of the Australian books, and none of the region 4 dvds were recognized. While this mostly has to do with the fact that it rips most of the data from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk, it is a bit frustrating.
End Post
writing time: 1 hour (includes a trip to the shops)
time since last post: 4 days
current media: You by VAST (iTunes on shuffle)
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Too Crazy to Work
Last week I went in to do some psychometric tests for a job I'd applied for. So after doing all the tests, they said they'd get back to me in the next day or two. The day after, I got a call from the person I'd met at the recruitment place, and she told me that based on the tests they weren't going any further with my application. She then told me that she personally couldn't give me any feedback on the test results because "she wasn't a trained psychologist". She then went on to say that if I wanted to I could make an appointment with someone else there who was to go over the tests.
I haven't as yet decided if I want to find out. From previous job interview type psych testing I've been told I'm borderline unstable. So partly I kind of know some of what they would tell me. Also there's some desire not to know about potential problems. I think I'm sane, but I know I'm not exactly an unbiased observer.
Writing time: 28 minutes
Days since last post: 12 days
Current Media: Serenity Soundtrack
I haven't as yet decided if I want to find out. From previous job interview type psych testing I've been told I'm borderline unstable. So partly I kind of know some of what they would tell me. Also there's some desire not to know about potential problems. I think I'm sane, but I know I'm not exactly an unbiased observer.
Writing time: 28 minutes
Days since last post: 12 days
Current Media: Serenity Soundtrack
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Are You for RU486
Today the House of Representatives passed a motion to remove the veto power of the health minister over approval of whether the abortion inducing drug RU486 can be used in Australia. Based on the reading and history of the debate, I think that this was the right decision.
RU486, or more correctly Mifepristone is a drug that affects hormones and can be used in combination with other drugs to induce an abortion. It has been used in many European countries since the late 80s, early 90s, and was approved by the US FDA in 2000.
In Australia, the equivalent of the FDA is the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). They are an expert body set up to evaluate goods that are used in treating and diagnosing medical problems. Basicly, before a drug can be used in Australia, the TGA has to approve it. Their authority comes from parliament, but they have the final decision in what drugs are allowed.
Now in around 1996 the current government was wanting to sell off part of the national phone company Telstra. Due to the balance of power at the time, they had to do a deal with an indpendent senator, Brian Harradine. Brian Harridine was quite conservative, and part of the deal was a change to the act that established the TGA, giving the health minister a veto over the TGA regarding RU486.
Fast forward to today, and in past weeks there has been a bit of an uproar about the whole thing because recently a few doctors have started trying to go through the process to get permission to prescribe the drug to their patients. This process includes getting approval from an ethics commitee at a local hospital who take into consideration the use the drug will be put to, the nature of the drug, the competance of the person requesting the permission and other factors. If this stage is approved, it goes through a few more similar steps at higher levels culminating with the TGA. Now with most drugs, if the TGA said yes, that would be it. But RU486 has a ministerial veto.
In response to this a group of women senators from several parties put forward a bill to remove the ministerial veto. The major parties allowed a conciense vote on the matter and it passed both houses without ammendment.
My main reason for agreeing with this decision is that it reverses something that created a special exception for this one specific drug, and while not bypassing allowed the decision of an expert group put in place by the government to make decisions regarding the safety of drugs to be ignored. The Health minister is not an expert on medicine, and the TGA's decision is that of a group who are qualified in the field and have researched the safety and effectiveness of the drug in question, and we should allow them to do the job that we have asked them to do.
I will admit that initially I was opposed to the bill for similar reasons, in that I thought it was changing the process for political reasons, but now that I know that the bill is just reversing something that was what I this bill was I now stand behind it.
I also want to point out that the main reason behind why I support this bill does not alter if you are for or against abortion, so long as you feel that if you set up a process to evaluate if things are safe or not, you shouldn't set up ways to sidestep that process for things you don't like.
One argument that was put forward as to why the minister should have a veto over this drug is that it different from something that just cures a cold, because it causes an abortion. The drug is used under the supervision of a doctor, and so in practise involves a similar amount of consultation with a doctor as a clinical abortion.
Finally, I will state that while I support the right of a woman to get an abortion, I don't think it is something that should be done lightly, or without considering all options.
End Post
Writing time: 1 hour 45 minutes (a friend came over for about an hour or so in that time)
Time since last post: 3 days
Current media: The Prologue from Fiddler on the Roof
RU486, or more correctly Mifepristone is a drug that affects hormones and can be used in combination with other drugs to induce an abortion. It has been used in many European countries since the late 80s, early 90s, and was approved by the US FDA in 2000.
In Australia, the equivalent of the FDA is the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). They are an expert body set up to evaluate goods that are used in treating and diagnosing medical problems. Basicly, before a drug can be used in Australia, the TGA has to approve it. Their authority comes from parliament, but they have the final decision in what drugs are allowed.
Now in around 1996 the current government was wanting to sell off part of the national phone company Telstra. Due to the balance of power at the time, they had to do a deal with an indpendent senator, Brian Harradine. Brian Harridine was quite conservative, and part of the deal was a change to the act that established the TGA, giving the health minister a veto over the TGA regarding RU486.
Fast forward to today, and in past weeks there has been a bit of an uproar about the whole thing because recently a few doctors have started trying to go through the process to get permission to prescribe the drug to their patients. This process includes getting approval from an ethics commitee at a local hospital who take into consideration the use the drug will be put to, the nature of the drug, the competance of the person requesting the permission and other factors. If this stage is approved, it goes through a few more similar steps at higher levels culminating with the TGA. Now with most drugs, if the TGA said yes, that would be it. But RU486 has a ministerial veto.
In response to this a group of women senators from several parties put forward a bill to remove the ministerial veto. The major parties allowed a conciense vote on the matter and it passed both houses without ammendment.
My main reason for agreeing with this decision is that it reverses something that created a special exception for this one specific drug, and while not bypassing allowed the decision of an expert group put in place by the government to make decisions regarding the safety of drugs to be ignored. The Health minister is not an expert on medicine, and the TGA's decision is that of a group who are qualified in the field and have researched the safety and effectiveness of the drug in question, and we should allow them to do the job that we have asked them to do.
I will admit that initially I was opposed to the bill for similar reasons, in that I thought it was changing the process for political reasons, but now that I know that the bill is just reversing something that was what I this bill was I now stand behind it.
I also want to point out that the main reason behind why I support this bill does not alter if you are for or against abortion, so long as you feel that if you set up a process to evaluate if things are safe or not, you shouldn't set up ways to sidestep that process for things you don't like.
One argument that was put forward as to why the minister should have a veto over this drug is that it different from something that just cures a cold, because it causes an abortion. The drug is used under the supervision of a doctor, and so in practise involves a similar amount of consultation with a doctor as a clinical abortion.
Finally, I will state that while I support the right of a woman to get an abortion, I don't think it is something that should be done lightly, or without considering all options.
End Post
Writing time: 1 hour 45 minutes (a friend came over for about an hour or so in that time)
Time since last post: 3 days
Current media: The Prologue from Fiddler on the Roof
Monday, February 13, 2006
Apathy, prevarication and procrastination
As mentioned previously mentioned, I had considered sending in some details to a valentines day match making thingy. Well, while it's not yet Valentine's day, the time frame for doing so has passed. The main reason I didn't was because I left off making a decision until not doing so was the only option left. A few decisions have been made like that.
Sometimes it's because that's the decision I really want to make, I just don't want to close off options too soon. That's not that bad. But sometime it's because I can't make a decision until it's almost or just past crunch time, and those are the ones that aren't so good.
Given that the last two paragraphs have taken an hour, I'll leave it at that.
End post
writing time: 1 hour
time since last post: 2 days
current media: Scrubs season 1 DVD extras
Sometimes it's because that's the decision I really want to make, I just don't want to close off options too soon. That's not that bad. But sometime it's because I can't make a decision until it's almost or just past crunch time, and those are the ones that aren't so good.
Given that the last two paragraphs have taken an hour, I'll leave it at that.
End post
writing time: 1 hour
time since last post: 2 days
current media: Scrubs season 1 DVD extras
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Rockets go Boom (perhaps)
8am: wake up, have a glass of water, played podcasts downloaded overnight, and get back into bed to listen, go back to sleep.
11am: get up, play some computer games, have a shower. Start messing around with my computer, as I've been having issues with my dvd drive. Part way through get dressed (about 20% of the way in).
2pm: lunch from subway. Watched some episodes of scrubs. Played some of the Undead campaign from Warcraft III.
6pm: watched an episode of The Simpsons, the one where Apu gets married. Some general computer gaming (solitaire, etc). After that some general stargate discussion with one of my housemates prompted by recent progress on my model of the stargate.
8pm: blogging, and some general web browsing.
A podcast I started subscribing to recently is offering a matchmaker thing for Valentines day. I'm considering sending in my details, but I'm not sure. First there's the fact that given the demographic most likely to watch a video podcast, the odds aren't very good in the first place. Although I think my main objection would be that do so would be to admit I do want that sort of thing, something which while I haven't exactly ruled out, I haven't made the whole romance, or even social thing a big priority in my life. It's not that I don't want romance, right now I'm not willing to look for it. If it comes by, I'll see where it goes. If I do send in an email to Rocketboom, I'll put something up here.
End post
writing time: 1 hour 33 minutes
days since last post: 3 days
current media: Scrubs season 1
11am: get up, play some computer games, have a shower. Start messing around with my computer, as I've been having issues with my dvd drive. Part way through get dressed (about 20% of the way in).
2pm: lunch from subway. Watched some episodes of scrubs. Played some of the Undead campaign from Warcraft III.
6pm: watched an episode of The Simpsons, the one where Apu gets married. Some general computer gaming (solitaire, etc). After that some general stargate discussion with one of my housemates prompted by recent progress on my model of the stargate.
8pm: blogging, and some general web browsing.
A podcast I started subscribing to recently is offering a matchmaker thing for Valentines day. I'm considering sending in my details, but I'm not sure. First there's the fact that given the demographic most likely to watch a video podcast, the odds aren't very good in the first place. Although I think my main objection would be that do so would be to admit I do want that sort of thing, something which while I haven't exactly ruled out, I haven't made the whole romance, or even social thing a big priority in my life. It's not that I don't want romance, right now I'm not willing to look for it. If it comes by, I'll see where it goes. If I do send in an email to Rocketboom, I'll put something up here.
End post
writing time: 1 hour 33 minutes
days since last post: 3 days
current media: Scrubs season 1
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Bow Chica Bow Wow
I've been doing a bit more learning how to use Blender. I started from scratch again to get more details on the model. The latest iteration is below. I've twigged to a few things that make it easier to do things and that it's a good idea to use lot's of little objects than one big complicated one. I also found out how to put in a general background, with stars, rather than putting in a big black plane behind the actual object. Positioning the camera still frustrates me though.
Job hunting sucks. No jobs advertised look interesting. I really don't want to go to another job that's just menial busywork. There were a few government jobs, but the job description says one thing and the selection criteria were wanting to show how you can do something else.
Since I stopped working my sleep pattern has really changed. I'm now staying up until about 2 or 3 in the morning and waking up about 11 or 12.
I've had a few very good games of nethack recently. I got two valkyries a little past Medusa, one down about 10 levels down into Gehemmon. Both deaths came about by being too confident about combat, and not considering other ways to deal with monsters.
writing time: 30 minutes
time since last post: 7 days
Current media: Season three of Red Vs Blue
Job hunting sucks. No jobs advertised look interesting. I really don't want to go to another job that's just menial busywork. There were a few government jobs, but the job description says one thing and the selection criteria were wanting to show how you can do something else.
Since I stopped working my sleep pattern has really changed. I'm now staying up until about 2 or 3 in the morning and waking up about 11 or 12.
I've had a few very good games of nethack recently. I got two valkyries a little past Medusa, one down about 10 levels down into Gehemmon. Both deaths came about by being too confident about combat, and not considering other ways to deal with monsters.
writing time: 30 minutes
time since last post: 7 days
Current media: Season three of Red Vs Blue
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Seeing Red Book
I tried doing a post yesterday, but didn't get much written, and then I lost what little there was when I tried to get a picture included the way I wanted it, so gave it up. So I'm trying again today.
I'm still enjoying the easy life. I'll start looking for a job on Saturday when the careers section is in the newspaper. I'll also try a few places that actively look for jobs for you. When you're on government assistance you're forced to go to meetings with companies who say they do that for you, but in the few months I've had to be associated with those companies, I haven't had one contact with a potential employer I didn't find myself, so I don't think that much of the ones that get paid by the government. But I have had one recommended to me where they work by taking a cut of your pay for the first few months, so they will obviously be motivated to get you out there and working quickly.
Now for a bit of a rant. For various reasons, I've been looking to find out the value of a motorbike. The one seemingly useful place I've found is Red Book. They have a nice big collection of vehicles by make, model, age, etc and give a trade in value and a private sale value. But their conditions of use are a bit harsh. There are two main things that annoy me. The first term is
Red Book has provided the material contained on this website in good faith. Red Book does not represent or warrant that the material is reliable, accurate or complete, or that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free.
So from the start. The information is provided in good faith. Nothing bad, pretty much all information is provided in good faith. The next bit is interesting. Red Book does not represent or warrant that the material is reliable, accurate or complete. The complete bit isn't a problem. No one can have info on every possible variation of cars. But their not even willing to claim that the information is reliable or accurate. I would point out at this stage, the company providing this information to the public for no charge actually sells it to businesses. If you're going to provide this sort of information, at least have the courage to stand up for what you say. Sure there will be people who try and get more for their car than it's worth, and people might sell for less, and sometimes it may be a while between updates, but make it clear that what you're showing is an average price range, and when it was last updated. Don't just say that we've put these numbers up, they may or may not be related to what an actual person will expect for their vehicle.
The second part that is frustrating is their conditions on who can put a link to their site, which is as follows:
Any linked site must not contain any information that is:
And finally, below is the latest iteration of my stargate I'm making with a 3d modeling program (Blender for the curious)
End post
writing time: 23 mintues
time since last post: 4 days
I'm still enjoying the easy life. I'll start looking for a job on Saturday when the careers section is in the newspaper. I'll also try a few places that actively look for jobs for you. When you're on government assistance you're forced to go to meetings with companies who say they do that for you, but in the few months I've had to be associated with those companies, I haven't had one contact with a potential employer I didn't find myself, so I don't think that much of the ones that get paid by the government. But I have had one recommended to me where they work by taking a cut of your pay for the first few months, so they will obviously be motivated to get you out there and working quickly.
Now for a bit of a rant. For various reasons, I've been looking to find out the value of a motorbike. The one seemingly useful place I've found is Red Book. They have a nice big collection of vehicles by make, model, age, etc and give a trade in value and a private sale value. But their conditions of use are a bit harsh. There are two main things that annoy me. The first term is
Red Book has provided the material contained on this website in good faith. Red Book does not represent or warrant that the material is reliable, accurate or complete, or that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free.
So from the start. The information is provided in good faith. Nothing bad, pretty much all information is provided in good faith. The next bit is interesting. Red Book does not represent or warrant that the material is reliable, accurate or complete. The complete bit isn't a problem. No one can have info on every possible variation of cars. But their not even willing to claim that the information is reliable or accurate. I would point out at this stage, the company providing this information to the public for no charge actually sells it to businesses. If you're going to provide this sort of information, at least have the courage to stand up for what you say. Sure there will be people who try and get more for their car than it's worth, and people might sell for less, and sometimes it may be a while between updates, but make it clear that what you're showing is an average price range, and when it was last updated. Don't just say that we've put these numbers up, they may or may not be related to what an actual person will expect for their vehicle.
The second part that is frustrating is their conditions on who can put a link to their site, which is as follows:
Any linked site must not contain any information that is:
- unlawful;
- an infringement of any third party's rights;
- disparaging of Red Book's goods or services; or
- offensive, obscene or pornographic.
And finally, below is the latest iteration of my stargate I'm making with a 3d modeling program (Blender for the curious)
End post
writing time: 23 mintues
time since last post: 4 days
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Cool things on the web
Since I've got my Ipod, I've increased my listening of podcasts. I kind of listened to a few just on my computer, but generally while I'm at my computer I'm doing stuff, so I wouldn't really pay attention. But with the it is easy to listen while traveling, so I listened to stuff while commuting around. The range of stuff I listen too is pretty broad as well. There's commentaries both official and fan on Battlestar Galactica, local current affairs, military history, for a while Russian lessons (it petered out after a while), weekly speeches by both the governator and George W, and some general geek discussion.
I've now started getting some videocasts as well. This is mainly because I found one that is very cool and well worth the effort of downloading. Ask A Ninja. A wonderful concept, and done well.
I'm unemployed right now. The basic story goes like this. I was a temp, on a seemingly ever extending contract. Back in about September/October they told me my contract had been extended again until the middle of January. Then at the end of December, they put out the January roster and I had shifts up until the 29th, which is well past the middle of January, so I thought, OK, my contracts been extended again. Then on the 16th of January, an email comes out to most of the temps, myself included saying that your contracts end on the 26th, so on your last shift make sure you hand in all the security stuff we gave you, and a comment that it was unlikely that contracts would be extended. At this point, I assumed that since my roster went past that point in time, the unlikely had already happened. But then last Monday the online timesheet system wouldn't let me log on, so I called the person responsible, and she told me to just email it to her, and to do the same on Thursday when I'd finished. I replied, but I'm rostered on for shifts after that, and her response was a that it was a business thing, and I was finishing on Thursday. Then at the end of Monday an email came out saying that we might be able to extend a few of the temp contracts, and wanted to know who was interested. At that point I'd kind of already moved on, and was planning to enjoy my third full weekend without work in over eight months, and finding a better job and not having to put up with all the crap work forced on you (stupid customers, stupid merchants, stupid policies) so I told them no. So now I'm unemployed. Fortunately, they paid me about 50% more than I'd usually spend, so I've managed to save a fair bit, so I'm not going to starve immediately (I can probably last about 16 weeks without having to be too frugal).
So now the challenge is to find something new to do to fill my coffers and my hours.
One of the ways I'm filling time is I'm learning how to use a 3d modeling program. My first project is to make a stargate from Stargate Atlantis. So far I've got some of the fancy bits that sit on the stargate done. I'll add more pictures as it gets a bit more developed.
writing time: 50 minutes
time since last post: 18 days
current music: MC Hawking - Fuck the Creationists
I've now started getting some videocasts as well. This is mainly because I found one that is very cool and well worth the effort of downloading. Ask A Ninja. A wonderful concept, and done well.
I'm unemployed right now. The basic story goes like this. I was a temp, on a seemingly ever extending contract. Back in about September/October they told me my contract had been extended again until the middle of January. Then at the end of December, they put out the January roster and I had shifts up until the 29th, which is well past the middle of January, so I thought, OK, my contracts been extended again. Then on the 16th of January, an email comes out to most of the temps, myself included saying that your contracts end on the 26th, so on your last shift make sure you hand in all the security stuff we gave you, and a comment that it was unlikely that contracts would be extended. At this point, I assumed that since my roster went past that point in time, the unlikely had already happened. But then last Monday the online timesheet system wouldn't let me log on, so I called the person responsible, and she told me to just email it to her, and to do the same on Thursday when I'd finished. I replied, but I'm rostered on for shifts after that, and her response was a that it was a business thing, and I was finishing on Thursday. Then at the end of Monday an email came out saying that we might be able to extend a few of the temp contracts, and wanted to know who was interested. At that point I'd kind of already moved on, and was planning to enjoy my third full weekend without work in over eight months, and finding a better job and not having to put up with all the crap work forced on you (stupid customers, stupid merchants, stupid policies) so I told them no. So now I'm unemployed. Fortunately, they paid me about 50% more than I'd usually spend, so I've managed to save a fair bit, so I'm not going to starve immediately (I can probably last about 16 weeks without having to be too frugal).
So now the challenge is to find something new to do to fill my coffers and my hours.
One of the ways I'm filling time is I'm learning how to use a 3d modeling program. My first project is to make a stargate from Stargate Atlantis. So far I've got some of the fancy bits that sit on the stargate done. I'll add more pictures as it gets a bit more developed.
writing time: 50 minutes
time since last post: 18 days
current music: MC Hawking - Fuck the Creationists
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
The deeply unfortunate doings of an ill-fated life
Funerals suck. Everyone who is already sad, upset, or otherwise unhappy about the discontinued existence of the person being commemorated gather together and remind each other that a tragedy has happened and that it a terrible thing to have happened, and it all feeds on itself making everyone more upset.
It was the second time after Mal's death I'd cried. There was a bit just after finding out, but after that I'd managed to be able to keep it together. But the actual event itself got to me. It started just going through the memorial garden where they've got parts of lots of other cremated people buried. I don't like graveyards. It's too much concentrated death, which in this type of situation just brings you back to why your there.
I was one of the pall bearers (I think I spelt pall right), along with one of Mal's sons, his two brothers, his brother in law (sisters husband) and an old (long time) friend of his. I was actually surprised at the size of the coffin. It was a lot narrower and shallower than I would have thought he'd have fit in. I wasn't able to get their in time for the viewing the day before the funeral, so I don't know if death made a hug difference in size, or I just am bad at estimating that sort of thing.
I'm considering making an offer to buy his motorbike off Mum, but before I do so I need to work out if I can afford it, not just the buying but the running of it. Also, a friend of his had first option on it if Mal didn't want it anymore, so that will probably have to be considered as well. And of course I need to get a motorcycle license, which will add to the cost (there exist 3 day courses for people with regular car licenses to get a motorcycle license if they can learn quick enough that cost ~$500). If I do, I might take a week of, visit Mum for a few days and then ride back to Brisbane.
A friend gave me a journal type book the other day. The title of this post is taken from the cover. Just looking at it, I've noticed that it's got a copyright notice on it. I guess they're really protective of their cover design, because I don't really think they can get away with copyrighting a bunch of blank pages with lines on them. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to put in there yet, but it will be something more profound than shopping lists and the like.
Have I mentioned that tax sucks. Not so much in and of itself, but in how it applies to work and motivation. At the moment, in a usual week I pay a certain amount of tax. If I do some overtime, or the rosters work out that a given pay week has more than the usual number of hours in it, I go over a certain point and get taxed at a higher rate. It's not as motivating when thinking about doing more when you realize that although you're being paid a certain amount per hour, for the extra hours you only see about half of that. I know it all balances out in the end, but still it frustrates at times.
End Post
writing time: 25 minutes
It was the second time after Mal's death I'd cried. There was a bit just after finding out, but after that I'd managed to be able to keep it together. But the actual event itself got to me. It started just going through the memorial garden where they've got parts of lots of other cremated people buried. I don't like graveyards. It's too much concentrated death, which in this type of situation just brings you back to why your there.
I was one of the pall bearers (I think I spelt pall right), along with one of Mal's sons, his two brothers, his brother in law (sisters husband) and an old (long time) friend of his. I was actually surprised at the size of the coffin. It was a lot narrower and shallower than I would have thought he'd have fit in. I wasn't able to get their in time for the viewing the day before the funeral, so I don't know if death made a hug difference in size, or I just am bad at estimating that sort of thing.
I'm considering making an offer to buy his motorbike off Mum, but before I do so I need to work out if I can afford it, not just the buying but the running of it. Also, a friend of his had first option on it if Mal didn't want it anymore, so that will probably have to be considered as well. And of course I need to get a motorcycle license, which will add to the cost (there exist 3 day courses for people with regular car licenses to get a motorcycle license if they can learn quick enough that cost ~$500). If I do, I might take a week of, visit Mum for a few days and then ride back to Brisbane.
A friend gave me a journal type book the other day. The title of this post is taken from the cover. Just looking at it, I've noticed that it's got a copyright notice on it. I guess they're really protective of their cover design, because I don't really think they can get away with copyrighting a bunch of blank pages with lines on them. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to put in there yet, but it will be something more profound than shopping lists and the like.
Have I mentioned that tax sucks. Not so much in and of itself, but in how it applies to work and motivation. At the moment, in a usual week I pay a certain amount of tax. If I do some overtime, or the rosters work out that a given pay week has more than the usual number of hours in it, I go over a certain point and get taxed at a higher rate. It's not as motivating when thinking about doing more when you realize that although you're being paid a certain amount per hour, for the extra hours you only see about half of that. I know it all balances out in the end, but still it frustrates at times.
End Post
writing time: 25 minutes
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Death
On new year's eve Mum's fiancee, Mal, died. He was 48. He was fine the day before, then in the morning had some chest pains, and the kaput. It was all very abrupt. Mum's very upset, although I've only spoken to her twice since it happened. They were going to get married in April, and as my grandfather died while I was young, I was going to take the role of the father of the bride (without the whole paying for the whole thing bit).
It's not a good thing. I'm feeling rather mopey. Not all that surprising. Work on Saturday was pretty tough. On Sunday night I went to my uncles place as my sister and aunt had flown in to Brisbane then. That was a bit depressing, the gathering together of sad people, especially my sister. She has a tendency to take my not showing much emotion externally as me not giving a damn. So far that has happened this time.
My uncle and I are driving up to Rockhampton tomorrow, and will be coming back on Friday, maybe with my aunt as well.
Work for once has not been a bunch of prats. My request for Thursday off got approved within a few hours.
Anyway, in summary, a really good guy is gone, and it really sucks.
End Post
Writing time 1 hour 12 minutes
It's not a good thing. I'm feeling rather mopey. Not all that surprising. Work on Saturday was pretty tough. On Sunday night I went to my uncles place as my sister and aunt had flown in to Brisbane then. That was a bit depressing, the gathering together of sad people, especially my sister. She has a tendency to take my not showing much emotion externally as me not giving a damn. So far that has happened this time.
My uncle and I are driving up to Rockhampton tomorrow, and will be coming back on Friday, maybe with my aunt as well.
Work for once has not been a bunch of prats. My request for Thursday off got approved within a few hours.
Anyway, in summary, a really good guy is gone, and it really sucks.
End Post
Writing time 1 hour 12 minutes
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Christmas is here
So Christmas is 2/3s over. I was up until 1 this morning having a chat with a friend on the phone. I set a record for the length of a phone call, 1 hour and 9 minutes. My personal phonecalls are usual on the order of a few minutes, if that. Then I went to sleep and had a nice sleep in.
I woke up and had breakfast, and opened up a few presents with a housemate. I'm currently watching (listening) to one of the DVDs I got. Three family members gave me cash. I also got a watch with a waving chairman Mao, a shirt with the Turkish flag on it (my aunt went to Turkey a few months ago), and a chairman Mao satchel.
My uncle came over for lunch. It was ok, we talked about stuff. He brought some prawns with him, and I tried one. For a long time I've avoided prawns, in earlier years going to extremes to avoid them. It was nowhere near as bad as what I recalled, but not anything wonderful. They won't be added to my favorite food list, but I may not outright refuse things including them in the future.
Once again, Christmas was spent partly with housemates and my uncle came over. When I was young, most of my family would gather at either our house or my grandmother's house for Christmas. As time has gone by, less gathering has gone by. Last year was the first time when no more than two family members were in the one area. My sister is in Thailand, my aunt in Western Australia. Mum is near Townsville, and my grandmother lives south of Cairns. That leaves me and my uncle in Brisbane.
While I'm generally not keen on family gatherings, Christmas is the one time I do miss that type of gathering. I'm not sure why.
End Post
writing time: 34 minutes
I woke up and had breakfast, and opened up a few presents with a housemate. I'm currently watching (listening) to one of the DVDs I got. Three family members gave me cash. I also got a watch with a waving chairman Mao, a shirt with the Turkish flag on it (my aunt went to Turkey a few months ago), and a chairman Mao satchel.
My uncle came over for lunch. It was ok, we talked about stuff. He brought some prawns with him, and I tried one. For a long time I've avoided prawns, in earlier years going to extremes to avoid them. It was nowhere near as bad as what I recalled, but not anything wonderful. They won't be added to my favorite food list, but I may not outright refuse things including them in the future.
Once again, Christmas was spent partly with housemates and my uncle came over. When I was young, most of my family would gather at either our house or my grandmother's house for Christmas. As time has gone by, less gathering has gone by. Last year was the first time when no more than two family members were in the one area. My sister is in Thailand, my aunt in Western Australia. Mum is near Townsville, and my grandmother lives south of Cairns. That leaves me and my uncle in Brisbane.
While I'm generally not keen on family gatherings, Christmas is the one time I do miss that type of gathering. I'm not sure why.
End Post
writing time: 34 minutes
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Sydney goes to Hell
Sunday was the start of some of the most fucked up shit I've seen go down in Australia. A crowd of 5000 people got together and thought it was a good idea to go around bashing people whose family background is from the middle east. And then when the police and ambulance service tried to help out those unfortunate people, the crowd decided to start throwing bottles and stuff at them as well.
Things have continued in a similar fashion, with people shooting cars parked outside a church Christmas event, groups on both sides planning on big fights, drive by assaults, and it seems to be spreading.
This is not cool.
In fact, until it happened, I'd have thought this sort of large scale stupidity wouldn't have happened in Australia. I sure as hell am not going to have anything to do with continuing it. I just hope this settles down quicker than Paris did.
End Post
writing time: 36 minutes
time since last post: 11 days
Things have continued in a similar fashion, with people shooting cars parked outside a church Christmas event, groups on both sides planning on big fights, drive by assaults, and it seems to be spreading.
This is not cool.
In fact, until it happened, I'd have thought this sort of large scale stupidity wouldn't have happened in Australia. I sure as hell am not going to have anything to do with continuing it. I just hope this settles down quicker than Paris did.
End Post
writing time: 36 minutes
time since last post: 11 days
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Musings on Wikipedia
I got a story posted on slashdot yesterday. A former aide to Robert Kennedy kicked up a bit of a fuss about his entry on wikipedia being likely false and possibly libelous. Despite the fact that as soon as he pointed it out wikipedia fixed it up, he decided to go on a rant about how vandals and idiots these days can spread their nuisance around more, and that internet providers and websites should be made responsible for preventing this sort of thing happening. In a bit of irony, he is associated with the center for the first ammendment. His entry is now a lot more than two sentences and a lot more researched.
I noticed the story when I checked out wikipedia the other day, and it was the first time I submitted a story to slashdot, so I was pretty happy when I saw it up on the main page.
I've spent a fair amount of time reading wikipedia, having killed a lot of time going through the kings and queens of England, presidents of the US, Australian and British prime ministers, and Popes, along with more random browsing. I have also made some contributions, mainly in a few specific areas I'm interested in, as well as some general fix up work as well. The list of articles I've contributed to include comic books, movies, a pope or two, novels, and cds. I've created most of the content on wikipedia relating to Velvet Chain, a very good band I enjoy, as well as adding info to topics I know a bit about.
Wikipedia matches my ideal of how infomation should be available. Anyone can get access to it, and everyone can contribute back. The system has a few problems where errors in obscure areas doesn't get fixed quickly, but I have found it to be a very good reference for expanding my general knowledge.
End post
writing time: 25 minutes
I noticed the story when I checked out wikipedia the other day, and it was the first time I submitted a story to slashdot, so I was pretty happy when I saw it up on the main page.
I've spent a fair amount of time reading wikipedia, having killed a lot of time going through the kings and queens of England, presidents of the US, Australian and British prime ministers, and Popes, along with more random browsing. I have also made some contributions, mainly in a few specific areas I'm interested in, as well as some general fix up work as well. The list of articles I've contributed to include comic books, movies, a pope or two, novels, and cds. I've created most of the content on wikipedia relating to Velvet Chain, a very good band I enjoy, as well as adding info to topics I know a bit about.
Wikipedia matches my ideal of how infomation should be available. Anyone can get access to it, and everyone can contribute back. The system has a few problems where errors in obscure areas doesn't get fixed quickly, but I have found it to be a very good reference for expanding my general knowledge.
End post
writing time: 25 minutes
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
What to write about this time
Work still sucks. The roster for December was given out on Monday. I get two days off during weekends this time round, Christmas and new years day. The two days that the place won't be open for business. But I have volunteered to work on Boxing Day, as they are offering 13.5 hours worth of pay for 5.5 hours worth of work.
I'm currently painting up a fancy tank for one of my warhammer armies. If I had thought ahead, I wouldn't have put the whole thing together before painting it, as some of the parts are very tricky to reach now that the tank is fully assembled. Anyway, progress is being made, slowly but surely.
My housemate has broken her leg, and is getting around on crutches.
I bought season one of Farscape last week, and have got through to the last episode at the moment. I enjoyed it when I first watched it and it's still good this time round. If they're still at half price I may pick up some further seasons in the coming weeks.
I saw a movie today in Gold class. I had a voucher for a free upgrade, and while the chairs were nice, as was having my drink brought in for me as the movie started, and there was little noise from others (there were only 30 seats), I don't think the full price is something I'd pay.
Well, that's a bit of prattle about nothing too significant, and I've kept it to less than two weeks between posts.
End post
writing time: 2 hours 20 minutes
I'm currently painting up a fancy tank for one of my warhammer armies. If I had thought ahead, I wouldn't have put the whole thing together before painting it, as some of the parts are very tricky to reach now that the tank is fully assembled. Anyway, progress is being made, slowly but surely.
My housemate has broken her leg, and is getting around on crutches.
I bought season one of Farscape last week, and have got through to the last episode at the moment. I enjoyed it when I first watched it and it's still good this time round. If they're still at half price I may pick up some further seasons in the coming weeks.
I saw a movie today in Gold class. I had a voucher for a free upgrade, and while the chairs were nice, as was having my drink brought in for me as the movie started, and there was little noise from others (there were only 30 seats), I don't think the full price is something I'd pay.
Well, that's a bit of prattle about nothing too significant, and I've kept it to less than two weeks between posts.
End post
writing time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Learning opportunity for France
It looks as though the riots in Paris are continuing, but are beginning to settle down. I'm still amazed at just how messed up things have gotten, and how wide spread (7 other countries have had related incidents) it has become. But the thing that really surprises me is just how little attention it seems to be getting in the rest of the world. It barely rates a mention on the two main Australian new websites (news.com.au and the Australian). CNN doesnt seem to think it should be on the front page of their site, nor do reuters.
This is something big. It is more important than the trial of some model foolish enough to have drugs in a foreign country with harsher drug laws than our own. It's more significant than some guy going through Princess Mary's trash for photos. This is 12 days of rioting in one of the worlds major cities, that has spread throughout the country and the continent.
The fact that this much violence has erupted shows that there were problems that needed addressing that weren't. And while that may explain the violence, it doesn't condone it. I would advocate as rapid a resolution as possible to the actual violence, followed by a serious look at the causes and fixing them.
I hope that the French people and the French government are sensible in the aftermath. This should not be used to make a more authoritarian government. The American goverment used the aftermath of September 11 to strengthen the goverments powers at the expense of the rights of the people. France I hope will be wiser, and will learn from this.
Anyway, heres hoping it finishes soon and France comes out a better country for it afterwards. While this is not a good thing, if nothing comes of it, it will just be a waste, and probably only a prequal.
End Post
writing time: 3 hours 4 minutes (including heading down to the shops, having dinner and watching some tv)
This is something big. It is more important than the trial of some model foolish enough to have drugs in a foreign country with harsher drug laws than our own. It's more significant than some guy going through Princess Mary's trash for photos. This is 12 days of rioting in one of the worlds major cities, that has spread throughout the country and the continent.
The fact that this much violence has erupted shows that there were problems that needed addressing that weren't. And while that may explain the violence, it doesn't condone it. I would advocate as rapid a resolution as possible to the actual violence, followed by a serious look at the causes and fixing them.
I hope that the French people and the French government are sensible in the aftermath. This should not be used to make a more authoritarian government. The American goverment used the aftermath of September 11 to strengthen the goverments powers at the expense of the rights of the people. France I hope will be wiser, and will learn from this.
Anyway, heres hoping it finishes soon and France comes out a better country for it afterwards. While this is not a good thing, if nothing comes of it, it will just be a waste, and probably only a prequal.
End Post
writing time: 3 hours 4 minutes (including heading down to the shops, having dinner and watching some tv)
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Six
Someone brought all the other bins in last night. I'm not sure who, but someone did it at about midnight last night. So I guess I won't get to feel the self righteousness of having brought them all in.
Damn
End post
writing time: 1 hour 26 minutes (I got distracted)
Damn
End post
writing time: 1 hour 26 minutes (I got distracted)
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Two
I brought the second bin in this evening.
Works shitting me. Last week I asked for the weekend of the 19th and 20th of November off as my family is planning a surprise birthday party for my grandmother, who turned 70 earlier this year. Now work is telling me that even though they haven't done rosters for that week, or indeed for anything past next Thursday, because that's going to be the busiest weekend in November, their having a really hard time being able to give me the weekend off. It's not like I've only had one weekend since May where I haven't worked both Saturday and Sunday. It's not like I'm one of only two or three out of 10 people in my team who had their average call time at less than the expected 250 seconds. It's not like I've turned up to every single shift I've been rostered on for and have never taken any sick leave (not that I'd get paid if I did). It's not like I let them change shifts that were organised almost a month ago with two or three days notice. It's not like I've applied for a permanent position three times, and been told, you can do the job, but your attitude towards the job isn't what we'd like it to be. Is one weekend that much to ask? I'll tell you what, my attitude towards the job won't be all that crash hot if the expect me to work that weekend.
I wonder if now is a good time to ask my team leader if I can use her as a reference?
End Post (Rant)
writing time: 27 minutes
Works shitting me. Last week I asked for the weekend of the 19th and 20th of November off as my family is planning a surprise birthday party for my grandmother, who turned 70 earlier this year. Now work is telling me that even though they haven't done rosters for that week, or indeed for anything past next Thursday, because that's going to be the busiest weekend in November, their having a really hard time being able to give me the weekend off. It's not like I've only had one weekend since May where I haven't worked both Saturday and Sunday. It's not like I'm one of only two or three out of 10 people in my team who had their average call time at less than the expected 250 seconds. It's not like I've turned up to every single shift I've been rostered on for and have never taken any sick leave (not that I'd get paid if I did). It's not like I let them change shifts that were organised almost a month ago with two or three days notice. It's not like I've applied for a permanent position three times, and been told, you can do the job, but your attitude towards the job isn't what we'd like it to be. Is one weekend that much to ask? I'll tell you what, my attitude towards the job won't be all that crash hot if the expect me to work that weekend.
I wonder if now is a good time to ask my team leader if I can use her as a reference?
End Post (Rant)
writing time: 27 minutes
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