Just Josh

Moved

2006-12-21T22:42:00.000+11:00

moved my main blog to
jpknight.spaces.live.com

I really the like the whole new 'live/vista' system. Plus the spaces aren't bad with their photo management and music players setup ready. Just need to get more people using the 'friend' capability the live offers. I also do not have the time to make a decent blog layout here. And the msn system is better if i do not update much as it alerts you in messenger.

Future Plans

2006-12-12T22:56:00.000+11:00

For those who haven't talked to me -

Now until Jan 19th - Working in Perth - of course going home to Tamworth for christmas week though

Jan 20th in Sydney setting up etc

~Jan 28 Fly to Chile

Feb 2-April 11 on ship cruising around Antarctica

April On Safari + Visit University of Capetown

~April 20th Back in Sydney

Perth

2006-12-12T22:33:00.000+11:00

I live on this penisula to south of city
I work in the tallest builiding in the middle there.

Perth is great! The weather isn't too hot either! Hasn't been over 30.

I am working as an evaluation/exploration geophysicist - data validation, processing and analysis for reports, which I make recommendations on future expansion of operations.

Have been getting up 6.30 swimming some laps before catching ferry to work, which takes only about 20 minutes commute door-to-door. I stay in a serviced apartment by myself - but the other interns stay next door.

I got nothing

2006-12-06T00:39:00.000+11:00

What a comeback - unfortunately I have been to busy earning my ridiculous large salary package to have watch the last 2 days. I will shut up now Mick - but you know i always go for the under dog against Aus, just to encourage some competitevely entertaining matches.

The Ashes!!

2006-12-02T15:57:00.000+11:00

Sorry I have not been posting about the cricket. Actually these days I am probably more knowledgeable about cricket players etc than soccer!

So as I have predicted to everyone I talk to England was just warming up in the First test, as they did last year they lost the first one. Also as predicted the Aussies bowlers are just too old. Sure they have brief periods of good attack but they really are loosing the edge.

However the batting depth of Australia is still phenomenal. So we are going to see some interesting matches I think as people try to avoid the draw on day 4/5. Hopefully they give some decent pitches, not simply doctored for Warne.

Bad news!

2006-11-29T23:15:00.000+11:00

Well here is the long awaited bad news -

Well the Research institue in germany who runs this expedition to Antarctica is hiring me as assitant, and hence covering my flights.
But silly anti-business 'junket' laws in Germany say I can only add 5 days total onto a business trip and sitll get my flights covered. Only 5 days to see Chile and South Africa!!

However I can try to extend my 'business' trip by visitng a university and having 'co-operation talks' or something like that. Need to try and find a contact to visit over there...

Perth

2006-11-29T23:04:00.000+11:00

Yay I kept my marks up for last semester!

Perth is a crazy place. You know at traffic lights, they all go red for a period and both the predestrian crossing go at same time. That is the traffic stands still in all directions while predestrians go! And you just walk across diagonal of intersection! Crazy!

The city is different to what I expected - all the shops are outdoors mall style - there is only few small inside malls. Also funny how there is only handful of skyscrapers and then only small (say 10-20 storey) buildings.

Also haven't seen many clubs haha. Lots of pubs though. Im sure I will find out later when i go out at night...

My eyes!

2006-11-24T23:24:00.000+11:00

My eyes are getting worse!! Dammit probably will need them for my next drivers licence test.
I remember the days.. when i dreamt of being a fighter pilot.. but then i needed glasses (that was last year highschool. Getting educated really takes a toll on your body haha.
It is just frustrating because I am in that in-between area where it is not worth, at the moment, bothering with contacts/surgery. Luckily I still have been driving around, at least during the day, without them fine - can still find the streets :)

A critique of my philosophy

2006-11-21T22:26:00.000+11:00

I am just reposting from the philosophy comments
OK thanks very much to an old theological buddy James who formalised my improtu essay attempt. Unfortunately I was trying to be brief and skipped over my assumptions, as I was trying to focus on applying the epistemological theory to interpretation.
Also thanks to his critique.
The complete essay is here.

Cheer up James - I am not a 'Ba'haist'...yet :P

Yes Tamworth is, relatively, a hole

2006-11-20T23:42:00.000+11:00

It is suprising i have changed. Well ok so has Tamworth, since Grace Brothers (a major upper-market department store) left 2 yrs ago there is no where to clothes shop.
And there is not much else to do, when you don't hav friends to chill with. Though cinema is pretty good though.
But we do have 8 flights to Sydney a day - only 1 hour! Or to brisbane. And only 3 hours drive to Port Macquarie and the beuatiful warm great surf of the north NSW coast :)
So i checked out the gallery, and done some reading, and chauffeuring of course. And thats all thats worth doing outside the house...and the gym and cinema.
Its a bit like the kid from the 3rd world country who moves, and gets use to the western world lifestyle hahaha.
I also realise how canberra is crap compared to sydney/melbourne.
But i guess it is degree of tolerance. Tamworth and Canberra seem tolerable when you got great friends to just chill with, and simple hobbies of computer gaming haha.
But now I have become accustomed to the more 'going out' social thing. Having great places to go to and new things to do has become much more impetous to me, now i begining to see the world more than ever before i have gotten hooked on the relatively exciting style.
Perhaps above all, I am more clear on what I want, and what I enjoy, rather than any social norm others have. Unfortunately, that does include a decent concert grand piano, so its gonna be a while for that spare $30000+ to come round hehe
And other things, such as being both a brilliant jazz musician and brilliant classicalist, are just plain impossible - the balance I am still figuring out.

The Departed

2006-11-15T23:08:00.000+11:00

Great movie. It was great to see a new gang doing the mafia/undercover cops movies (taking over from Pacino, deniro etc) - that is Jack nicholoson, matt damon, leonardo dicaprio. Was sceptical at first if dicaprio could do the real tough guy thing, but he was more of a tough guy than damon!
Actualy, would go as far to say as the greatest parallel story told about undercover cops. Actualy I think also because it combined the undercover cop getting messed up with corrupt cop with some gangster stories on the side. Was the corrupt cop good or bad? Was the undercover cop good or bad? Was the gangster boss good or bad? (he was FBI informant but only for his own business manipulation).
Also funny to see Mr chubby face dicaprio! Thats right, someones had a few to many donughts haha. I mean you look at him back in like Romeo Juliet - his face is so chubby now!

Also good to see ouple of apperently hot guys that look young, esp dicaprio very young!

Also note their blue eyes, mid-light brown hair, slightly tanned complexation etc...

Wahts that you say... just like me??? hahaha

nono.. I don't have chubby face like dicaprio..or ummm geeky hair like damon hahaha

My Philosophy

2006-11-10T13:49:00.000+11:00

Again I have realised a number of truths upon reflection, and developments. Mainly my appreciation of the merits of post-modernism, taken to a sensible degree (not relativism!!). Also a brilliant book 'Philosophy's own Religion' by Don Cuppit a theologian turned philosopher of religion.
First an excerpt -

"Take an Anglo-Saxon (i.e. western influenced) analytical philosopher and conservative evangelical Christian (not literalist though!). Now these appear polar positions, however on nearly everything fundamental to their philosophy's they agree. They are both rationalist, and put knowledge first. To both the question of realistically understanding truth of their beliefs is important, and how to express them within the confines of language and our limited minds. They are both moral 'absolutes'. So ethics is made into a question of realism. If you are not this, you are merely a moral 'emotivist' and probably sunk into the morass of relativism as well, so that we need spend no more time talking with you."

I love the 'smack down' on relativism at the end! As it is a waste - why bother learning knowledge at all if it holds no actual truth! How can intelligibility and rationality exist in such system!

Anyway back to some key points of mine -

1. Realist and rationalist.
1a. But not some supreme humanistic stance of our humanities own intelligence, or belief in 100% revelation from a supreme being, or ever trying to comprehend that supreme unified being that does clearly exist. Logic or 'divine' wisdom are both fallible largely due to their common infalsifiability. A combination of carefully criticised and intuitively wide felt spiritualism and method of rationality is the blend of epistemology.
1b. within rational knowledge - it is not merely logical and determinism. A system of contextual understanding. Such as the context that defines the scientific method. Also within those holistic understanding at various levels. Macro-economics is not derivable from micro-economics!
1c. Within spiritual knowledge. Well this is the point were I infuriate my conservative friends. This is where my 'post modern' Christianity kicks in. No the bible is not the only divine source. Nor can it ever possible give us everything - it is written in our own limited language and our limited minds trying to understand nonsensical ideas. I have a great deal of admiration for many of the world religions - and also am critical of many of them, especially when the institution tries to define them. Christianity (not Judaism!!) has greatly influenced western philosophy (and mine), and has some great unique ideas that make it clearly the best for anyone who accepts a similar basic western philosophy. In other contexts other religions are much more appropriate for the individual. They are still 'god' fearing people - seeking the eternal truth. Only the extremely arrogant would claim they have a complete understanding of God largely derived form a few apostles contextual writings to various church’s (indeed ambiguous and almost contradictory at times).
I do not want to get to side-track - but suffice to say, 'God' is the judge and all knowing. Once we start claiming correct clear universal knowledge of him we are on a dangerous path! And I very much like the Christian concept of we are not redeemed through our own work, but by the grace of God - as we are humans and will always fall short (i.e. of attaining 'enlightment'). And I strongly reject re-incarnation because it is merely a 'turtles all the way down!!' psuedo-explanation.

2. pseudo-Subjectivism and post-modernism
I accept tenets such as that we well never be able to know fully. That truth can only be declared 100% by a contextual/subject 'benchmark', and that will inherently be a non-closed system (Godel’s theorem).
However, anything that requires a significant destruction of fundamental principles should be rejected! Such as traditional 'literal miraclism' - which requires a rejection of the fundamental principles of science. How can science works so well, but be fundamentally flawed? I am not claiming God does not have the power of 'miracles' (as we are still very ignorant of him) - but many 'miracles' have been explained by science. This thinking should be applied to the social sciences as well. And as neuroscience advances I am sure much more will develop on our understanding of human 'knowledge' at the fundamental level (why our logic is so logical!).

Now those who are going to be quick to say 'oh no you are going to hell' - think of St Aquinas, Kant, Calvin, possibly even Luther - these greats all have mused on thoughts such as mine. 'Faith' and 'Salvation' should be held with a strong degree of independence from intellectual thoughts and philosophy.
An especially strong illustration of this is just here, my faith in realism and rationalism. I think therefore I am (Descartes). This of course could be wrong, and total subjectivism could win. boo-hoo the world is crazy after all. But I have faith, both on personal reflection, 'spiritual' reflection, and importantly thousands of years of human thought and reflection. Sure Buddhism is radically different to Christian, but one had influence of a rationalist Confucius which predated it, and respectively a rationalist Plato/Aristotle that predated the other.
QED

(I like doing QED at end of my proofs now cause the stats lecturer always makes me laugh when he does it because I have never seen a mathematician do it).

Interesting

2006-11-05T16:28:00.000+11:00

Even a nice nationalistic and aristocratic/'oligarch' artist was punished under the russian monarchy. You can understand why the people tolerated Stalin and Lenin post-revolution, perhaps they (subjectively) weren't as bad as the Tsars... (I will not start telling the stories of the next generation of russian composers - Prokofiev the most notable in being punished as he stayed in USSR)

Until recent years it had been generally assumed that Tchaikovsky died of cholera after drinking contaminated water. However, a controversial theory published in 1980 by Aleksandra Orlova and based only on oral history (i.e., without documentary evidence), explains Tchaikovsky's death as a suicide.
In this account, Tchaikovsky committed suicide by consuming small doses of arsenic following an attempt to blackmail him over his homosexuality. His alleged death by cholera (whose symptoms have some similarity with arsenical poisoning) is supposed to have been a cover for this suicide. According to the theory, Tchaikovsky's own brother Modest Tchaikovsky, also homosexual, helped conspire to keep the secret. There are many circumstantial events that some say lend credence to the theory, such as wrong dates on the death certificate, conflicting testimony from Modest and the doctor about the timeline of his death, the fact that Tchaikovsky's funeral was open casket, and that the sheets from his deathbed were merely laundered instead of being burned. There are also passages in Rimsky-Korsakov's autobiography years later about how people at the funeral kissed Tchaikovsky on the face, even though he had died from cholera. These passages were deleted by Russian authorities from later editions of Rimsky-Korsakov's book.
The suicide theory is hotly disputed by others, including Alexander Poznansky, who argues that Tchaikovsky could easily have drunk tainted water because his class regarded cholera as a disease that afflicted only poor people, or because restaurants would mix cool boiled water with unboiled; that the circumstances of his death are entirely consistent with cholera; and that homosexuality ("gentlemanly games") was widely tolerated among the upper classes of Tsarist Russia. To this day, no one knows how Tchaikovsky truly died.

Exams

2006-11-02T21:17:00.000+11:00

For those who haven't heard -

Friday 3 afternoon - Geochemistry/petrology 3hr 100% - but have list of questions already, half will appear on it
Saturday morning 4th - Maths PDEs - 70% but have his lecture notes (good summary of textbook) and 1 'cheat sheet'
Monday afternoon 6th - Math. Stats - 80% but totally open book including tuts/past exams with his solutions :D

Then I need to write up my 50% research project for Computational/algebra maths course due the 13th - i already have results and she seemed quite impressed with them in my presentation though.

Skyscrapers

2006-10-31T15:21:00.000+11:00

I am going to be in working in the 6th tallest skyscrapre in Aus!
http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/tp/co/?id=100012

Suprised that Sydney is so far behind, at the moment!! I know there is at least 1 very tall one which appears to be tallest being built at moment.

The end is nigh!

2006-10-27T16:09:00.000+10:00

Last Assignment ever for ANU/my bachelors done!
Just concentrate on my exams now.....

Well I think I have had enough of Canberra, I have done all the common attractions/activities, including biking on all the mountains and long runs through the surrounding bushland. I have a little stepping stone plan - Grow up in Tamworth ~50 000pop, Canberra ~350 000, Sydney 4 000 000, Some big city overseas for postgrad/job ~>5 000 000

I just pray that all my plans for the year ahead come together, and other people do their jobs properly to keep my plans organised - especially when I ahve already paid them deposits!! Can be daunting when i stop and figure out how much traveling I am doing.

Classic Movies

2006-10-22T22:28:00.000+10:00

Before Sunrise/Before Sunset
Unbeatable!
Their connection and smoothness on screen is incredible. It is just so unique I do not think any could pull it off without another brilliant acting couple and associated cinematography witht he beautiful backgrounds and seamless camera work. Also admire how it makes you feel satisfied with the unresolved endings.

Laptop + Vista!!

2006-10-19T15:24:00.000+10:00

So my final laptop specs for those who care -
15.4" SXGA high res
Core 2 duo T7200 2.oghz mb L2 cache = faster than a desktop athlon X2 4800+ top of line haha, per ghz performs exactly same as desktop Core 2duo, just they are obviously clocked a little higher = hotter +30-50% quicker than same core 1 duos
(btw matt centrino is not the CPU, it is the whole platform intel markets - ie, the chipset + onboard intel wireless network etc, ram specs etc)
2Gb (2x1gb dual channel) DDR2 667mhz
ATI mobile x1400 128Mb dedicated + more shared ram
100Gb 7200rpm HD - quicker than anyone elses lap HD hehe
HD stereo Audio! 24-bit/192khz - actual not bad but no equalizer etc + hiss of internal interference so probably will get a basic creative audigy external even if i only run a 2.1 system (a THX 2.1 system that is :) )
Plus my 320GB 16mb cache SATA2 external, and mx1000 bluetooth laser mouse

Windows Vista RC2 the final pre-release
omg seriously never this excited and impressed with a piece of software. All the GUI/interface is briliaant - os-x has no where near the prettiniest that Aero has, and the cool sidebar gadgets and everything. IE/mail is briliant mozilla impersonators - but they actually handle RSS far easier. The inbuilt media centre is cool, if u are using a desktop as booth a HPC and normal comp.

Only issue, security issue obviouly for those idiots who turn off auto-updating and the inbuilt security stuff for spyware, as well as wont run an anti virus. Also these idiots tend to give their email uot to everyone and visit dodgy websites.

And performance - sure u need a decent comp. They harshly gave my video card only 3.6 - but it handles the Aero interface fine (though they will die if i tr to run a dx10 game of course). Where as my ram, cpu, Hd etc all got 5, but they clearly seem to be hit the hardest. For examle when indexing files it takes up nearly 1 whole core to do this - though only when u are not using the comp. And running my standard background programs - itunes, browser, mail, filesharing, +sidebar stuff i ahve about 40% RAM usage. So folks, dont try it without 2gb and a core 2 duo if u want to use it fully.

The END of my MTB career..

2006-10-14T12:07:00.000+10:00

Well thats it. It started when i was a wee little boy in primary school, carving up on the BMX, then i got into just any riding in highschool. Even did a 100km day once on a road bike expedition out to a lake, and followed up with the 70km ride short way back (though the short way had massive hill climb, followed b y dropping i think 350m elvevation down into the Tamworth river valley in about 10minutes of 60-70+km/h speed!).
The mountains is what attracte me to Canberra over sydney, 1wst year i carved up on my old cheapish thing down in the south - Red hill, Mt Taylor. 2nd yr i had of no bike. 3rd yr i was bored in summer here so got my kickass $1000 giant with 100mm hdyraulic damped shocks, hydraulic brakes! fun!
Crarved up a few times out on the Aus Championship tracks at Majura, did stromolo, twice (a 150m hill 20km east of here with the telescopes). Many good times.

Amazingly have never broken a bone crashing! Nor did i ever get around to getting some footage of me carving up this year.

So i went out last ride ever this morning, to try and break my bike, and myself, and i crashed 3 times pretty hard in the same spot! (i did 3 laps of a track). Didn't break anything significant though! And i don't have much visible wounds! But i am sore!

PS Well i do hope i can get back into it, just cannot forsee it in the near future, although possibly in HK in 2008!

PSS A] related rant - why don't ATMs give $100 in australia!!! Now i have a big pile of 50's to hide haha

Dell

2006-10-12T13:53:00.000+10:00

Why does Dell eta say 7 days for delivery? ridiculous..

Happenings..

2006-10-07T19:53:00.000+10:00

Things are going well... to well..
I guess the only thing not well is the fact I ahve 2 courses, supposedly only second year level, which are by fr the most challenging I have done. Due to the fact that it appear to me to be simply 'rote learning' - finding a similar example in the notes and using that technique. I guess thats why they both have 70% open book finals - hopefully I pass so as not to scrwe up all my beautiful plans.

Combine witht he fact they are by far the worst courses I ahve had at uni - bad lecturers that you can only half follow there examples and lack communicating a good visualition or concept of the methods of solving they are using. Both have utterly useless tutorials. And I don't think it is just me when mean marks are only 50 or 60%.

A post for Matt etc

2006-09-30T21:32:00.000+10:00

The plans -
Just get a Dell laptop with kick-ass core specs - Core 2 Duo 2Ghz (+ they have 4MB cache now!), 2GB Ram just a x1400 256mb graphics i think 15.4" screen (so as wide as my current 19")
+ an external sound card and HD = ~2800
Get somewhere over 1500 for current stuff - summer job covers the gap.

In future can always get a seperate big screen, and get a mad gaming main machine when in HK for cheap and make this my little Linux/number crunching/dvd ripping/laptop bitch :)
I will always have access to at least a Linux machine at the office from now on...
So no games for me next yr.. but im in Sydney where there is things to do, aside from that thing called honours.

BTW i don't really want to sell my bike, as it is a capital investment and i plan to take it to HK if that happens - hkmba.org

Gnosticism

2006-09-28T08:58:00.000+10:00

So it has been a while since there has been any philosophy rants...

Ok these silly ignorant atheists, or arrogant anti-Christians, who claim the Christian conception is that we are 'inherently evil'. WRONG!! This is heresy and the foundation of Gnosticism (which the Opus Dei sect is portrayed as in the Da Vinci code, and what medi-evil Catholicism leant towards - but we all know Roman Catholicism is a long way from biblically accurate theology!!!!).

God created everything good, because he is good. In particular us, who are in his image. 'the fall' concept did not make us inherently evil, or the entire world evil, which is a bad feeble minded attempt to explain suffering (again this is what many 'creationists' claim, and we all know they are a long way from an intelligent and contextual reading in their theology!!!).

We are still GOOD!! We have the image of goodness and perfection in us. And we know this is 'correct and good', thank to the God given consciousness. And many atheists will still strive for this (though they will try to use scientific jargon to replace the theological jargon and reasoning for it, such as altruism).

The fall simply made it impossible for us to achieve this, no matter how hard we strive. And our only redemption from this is Jesus Christ.

Ok so I appreciate the correct argument that Christianity makes us guilty and condemned from birth. That God knew we would fail and would always sin, so is judging and punishing us for something which he unavoidably put in our design.

But again I will call upon the free-will argument. And could you imagine a better world? In fact could you imagine a God more perfect and loving that he would give the ultimate sacrifice for us?

I also reject this sense of guilt from birth. Children do not go to hell!! (again according to smart and contemporary modern theology). And the Armenian principle, of 'each to his own' when they are judged by God. The native who has never heard the good news, I strongly believe will be judged clean by God. As the people before Jesus was. 'To seek and fear God' the universal principle, where God can be synonymous with knowledge and eternal truth, and the meaning of life in general.

MATLAB argh

2006-09-26T17:05:00.000+10:00

"Under most circumstances, the primary function is the only function in an M-file that you can call from the MATLAB command line or from another M-file function. You invoke this function using the name of the M-file in which it is defined."

Stupid!! Means I need a seperate file for each sub-function.. argh!!
How come Scilab (a open-source equivalent) is yet again, much more appropiate for the 'power user or expert' in that application type?? In this case someone who actually knows how to program, and wants to implement a mathematical model in a nice language (nice being not C/Fortran/Java).
But if I change, I lose all the pretty graphs and brilliant pre-built functions...

Medicals

2006-09-24T19:11:00.000+10:00

Need an ECG, so excessive (part of my polar trip medicals).
Pressure on my to get 200-age=180 heart rate; but I'm sure i hit 200bpm when im doing 50km/h down a single track on black mountain.
It is also funny how we do put ourselves at the center of the world. For example I was believing we were going West from chile, under Australia to Africa, but in fact we will be going the other way, as the german station is below the Atlantic.

Taveling

2006-09-22T16:13:00.000+10:00

Pilbara (Broome area) in January ~50C, Mawson or Davis Station Antarctica in March ~-5C.....

2 more months to fill in, though not a problem when i am as busy as ever with planning.

How come my 2 2nd yr level courses are being so tough on me? Hopefully I can great through with continued help of good mates - but both are 70% finals open book.. hmm if i get HD 80 on assignments i only need 40 on final =)
At least I should have plenty of time on final exams - unless they are mean.

Antarctica Plans

2006-09-16T11:52:00.000+10:00

Yes so as most of you would know, I am planning on going on a geophysical research cruise to Anarctica next February-April, departing Chile, returning South Africa. Expeneses paid of course, by the nice German tax payers. Hopefully spend some time before/after on holidays, seeing as I will be flown over there.

Jobs

2006-09-14T15:46:00.000+10:00

Science major with skills in high demand (i mean to actually be a career scientist) -
Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Geology
Computer science (not just IT!)
Stats

Well these are the subjects i have only ever heard graduates say their is high demand and high pay in aus, which is complete opposite what, say bio and pysch graduates are saying.

Damien Rice

2006-09-09T11:42:00.000+10:00

My newest obsession - much like Coldplay really, songs about girls, although done is his excellent soft style...

“I used to have a feeling that I had to spend a long time at the song, work at it 'til it got better, but recently I discovered that the better songs I have written are the ones that come really fast, where I stop trying to be a songwriter, stop trying to be anything, and just live, experience and be free.” Damien Rice

And a sample from ‘Delicate’ –

…

it's not that we're scared
it's just that it's delicate
so why d’ya fill my sorrow
with the words you've borrowed
from the only place you've known
why d’ya sing hallelujah
if it means nothin’ to ya
why d’ya sing with me at all?
we might live
like never before
when there's nothin’ to give
how can we ask for more?

…

Childishness

2006-09-07T00:41:00.000+10:00

This is inpsired from watching 'Lolita'. Brief explanation for those not culturally sophistacated enough to read/watch an critically accliamed book/movie.. 30-something teacher forms a relationship with his 15 yr old stepdaughter after her mother/his wife dies. But it was initially his manipulation that brought about the relationship essentially, but then she ('lolita') becomes the manipulative one.
But what struck me was that how the child behaves, and how this is a exactly like many normal romantic dramas when there is fighting and manipulationa nd deceit. How we all can act so childish, and it is clear when we see a child taking on a supposedly mature adult role, we see how we make the same shortcomings as they do. The same selfish behaviour, ignorant and unable to empathise with the other perons view and feeling in a relationship.

Work

2006-09-02T16:58:00.000+10:00

This is why i want a good summer job..

20. Play the game "Does my head fit in my desk drawer?"

19. Slowly turn and stare at the person who sits next to you. When they notice and look up, quickly look back at your computer screen. When they stop looking and go back to work, slowly turn your head again. Repeat.

18. Drink lots of water and see how long you can go without urinating.

17. At an unsupervised employee's computer, send porn to the entire company.

16. Only turn left for the rest of the day.

15. Practice spinning on your swivel chair until you achieve "the zone". Impress your colleagues with your turning tricks.

14. If the person next to you has action figures on his/her desk, make them do sex things. Draw speech bubbles on post-it notes and make them talk dirty to each other.

13. Find two computers that are back to back and switch the monitor connection on both of them.

12. Print all of your reports in size 20 Comic Sans font with 4cm margins.

11. Go to the toilet and cover your hands in soap and water then enter a cubicle. When someone arrives and have made themselves comfortable, see how many repetitive slapping slurping noises you can make before they leave.

10. Discover the limits of innocent flirting and sexual harrassment by referring to all females in the office as "Tits" and "Taco Pants". For bonus points try "Jizz Bucket".

9. Hide under your desk and start calling someone's name repeatedly, like you're trying to get their attention.

8. Pull people's headphones off as you walk past.

7. Discreetly pick a target in the office and throw small bits of screwed up paper at their head when they're not looking. Slowly increase the amount of paper until you're using a full scrunched A4 sheet. Slowly add more and more weight until you knock them unconscious or kill them.

6. Talk with a lisp. When people ask why you're talking with a lisp, get offended and tell them they're insensitive.

5. Declare yourself as the office Robin Hood and steal from people's change drawers/boxes/tins for your lunch when they're not around. And since you're the poor, just buy your lunch with it.

4. If somebody heads for the printer, beat them to it and start printing test pages. Examine them, say "Hmmm", and keep printing.

3. See how loudly you can say "penis" without anyone noticing.

2. Call meetings with 4 random employees. When they arrive, ask them if they've been having 'the dreams' aswell.

1. In the kitchen, mumble something about shooting everyone with a gun. If someone asks what you said, deny any knowledge of saying anything, then as you walk away mutter something about the apocalypse.

Game + Drug = The ultimate escapism?

2006-08-29T22:09:00.000+10:00

Scary article

First though "Dr. Maressa Orzack is a licensed psychologist and founder and coordinator of the Computer Addiction Services clinic at McLean Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, which treats video game addiction." LOL!!
There's actually specialist clinics!

"Kids plus video games is bad. Kids plus drugs is worse. Kids plus video games plus drugs equals a fucking nightmare, oh no let's ban the damn things now!"

Though the ideas are profund.

"We were all in this state, but nobody regretted it. One must always pay for the pleasurable sins in life, and this penance was no different. The overriding feeling was that "we had fun." It was stimulating, it was thought provoking, it was enjoyable, and it had peaked and peaked again to become a most memorable weekend."

"When you're high," I had been told at the beginning of our adventure, "reality becomes a game, and the game becomes a reality."

So true. And so scary. Just another example of modern man coming to grips with the meaningless of it all, and searching for a fantasy and escape into a more philosophically satisfying world; where objectives are defined and you can acheive them, witht he meaning provided by fullfiling the plot of the character in the story.

Also note the clear sinful consicious they feel after the escapism. Sure it has come, but they realise their immorality? Perhaps that they haven't solved the philosophical crap that our modern secular society has given us? That escapism, with or without drugs - the mere act of distracting us from the big and real truth, is not the answer to anything?

Yes i am very biased towards favouring these people. Due to there high intelligence/education and infering that they would be totally aware of what they are doing. This really is a lot like fight club. People who choose not to accept societies standard pop culture fix of our meaningless - they won't simply be a consumer and settle down with a family. And they won't choose to be a simple other extreme of a complete pleasure seeker. They choose to balance. Thoguh it is a scary slippery slope from soft drugs to hard drugs to the extreme.

Maybe that could be my 'calling' - evanglism in the gaming community? Other stereotypicaly highly educated in science/maths who need a real answer? And to realise that they really are no better witht heir games than those pop culture consumers.

When I grow up i wanna be...

2006-08-27T14:20:00.000+10:00

Dreams i have partialy entertained the thought of......

A pro underground racer in japan

A pro DJ-producer

An ASIO agent

A Fighter pilot

A Special Forces officer

A nature documenter (David Attenborough/David Suzuki)

A jazz star based in tokyo

A classical concert pianist

Geeky desires

2006-08-22T22:07:00.000+10:00

wahhh im crying...
6 months ago i got a Athlon 64 X-2 3800+ - for about $100 more than it is on the chart now.
Look how good those Core 2 Duo's look..mm...

In games, a good real world test of CPU, the Core 2 duo E6400 beats all Athlon X2's (bar FXs of course), and it going for about same cost as my 3800+ cost me 6months ago!

Putting aside my inferiorness now, this is great news. Now the dominant high end performance chip maker, with by far the most support in this area, has got a quality model - without needing to invest in over the top Itanium 2 server chips!

Anyway hopefully I will still keep my access in the future to 'super-computer' clusters of Intel/linux boxes to do all my compiling and model running on. Or even apply to APAC to get some of the rank no 26 in world super computer based here at ANU :). Because otherwise I am totally happy with my windows/AMD box at home.

Ball story

2006-08-19T11:28:00.000+10:00

Yeh photo spamming for friends who wanna see pretty pics...
Sorry for some bit dodgy, these are just my camera copies - I might post better ones of others later.

Ball more

2006-08-19T11:20:00.000+10:00

Ursula Ball

2006-08-19T11:09:00.000+10:00

Shirts

2006-08-16T21:48:00.000+10:00

Mmm Van Heusen European cut shirts.. so good. All good people love Van Heusen shirts.. like Matt and I and my Dad. Disadvantages of european cut is no pocket, and no cuff-link hole - but they are perfect slim fit on non-fat guys like me.

Niceness

2006-08-16T19:28:00.000+10:00

Ok.. admitterly most of this probably is because i am just a nice guy trying to be friendly and cross barriers.. but..

Don't you love how people just decided to ignore you/not be your friend anymore?? I mean thats ok, i don't expect to understand girls, but just the fact they don't tell you. I mean simply say 'I do not want to talk to you' - it would save any further distress on either party.

But then again, people who are quick to judge on gossip and biased accounts aren't people who I really want to meet in first place. Nor those who are so conceited to not be aware of the own mis-treatment of others.

How come I always meet these people?

Problems with existentialism

2006-08-12T13:13:00.000+10:00

Firstly, you may be asking what is existentialism? It is the core belief that knowledge is subjective. This is the popular world-view many educated people in the west have adopted sub-consciously. It is very nice for our modern political correct world, where we want to value all religions equally, and be accepting of all diversity within the social sciences and the arts. It has other attractive features such as being able to fit agnostic which is another current popular pseudo-philosophical flavour.

But why is it so wrong? Or rather creates so many problems?

Well firstly, if you are going to hold a belief, a principle, it should apply to all your life. To believe in say cultural subjectivity, but then believe in scientific objectivity is illogical without further investigation. Both are simply components in our universe and experience, they should be inseparable. While I totally agree with a statement such as the beauty of art is subjective, but scientific 'truth' is objective and universal; there are more comfortable ways around this. For example, obviously science is implicitly defining precisely what its truth is, were as artistic beauty lacks an accurate quantitative definition. Hence the vast difference between 'physical' sciences (incl. maths/philosophy), and social sciences.

Hence we have stumbled across my theory of epistemology ('knowledge' or perhaps 'mind'). That truth is only objective when we define narrow quantitative methods; which will require many implicit assumptions. And some such as the naturalistic view in science, will require a search for meaning behind the assumptions. Hence those 'positivism' searching for meaning within the science, are doomed if they have not been able to explain their objectivism in the first place.

To return to my attack on existentialism, it is rejecting rationalism. And undermining scientific naturalistic philosophy. (Yes I realise I have assumed rationalism, but if I did not, why is it even valid for us to be discussing such questions, if we are not intelligent and cannot rational induce and deduce things from our observations? 'I think therefore I am' QED)

Hence yet again, 'I am dragged' (to quote CS Lewis) to a view of theism. One infinitely giant 'turtle' to validate our assumptions. Something which gives a measure to even say we exist. Something which is beyond the question of existing as it is a philosophical necessity. Personally, I prefer a benevolent and omnipotent god, over relying on our own good, which clearly just does not exist.

Sorry about the tangents.

Birthday

2006-08-10T12:06:00.000+10:00

This is most of my best mates, except for the 2 japanese boys -.-
We just had some pizza and drinks ^^
Hey thanks everyone, who called or msn or saw me.

Thanks for everyone who put in for my presents, now i have 2 'scotch' glasses, and a pink shirt i might wear to formal dinner tonight.

Yay for maths

2006-08-08T15:01:00.000+10:00

From CSIRO senior maths applied mathematician -

Science is a fantastic foundation for many different careers. Australian science graduates have become:

* senior bureaucrats
* captains of industry
* judges
* China’s richest billionaire
* world-leading researchers
* television and media stars.

A good science education stimulates curiosity and promotes a questioning approach.

It teaches problem solving skills and encourages a continuing interaction between observation, theory and experimentation.

It demonstrates the strength of scientific values: integrity and objectivity in the way experiments are designed, performed, reported and reviewed by peers.

Modern science also teaches teamwork and communication skills because research is increasingly multidisciplinary.

Employers in government, industry and business value these capabilities highly, they just don’t seem to be looking often enough at science graduates.

On another comment, now having experience of the nature of applied stats courses, all these acturial guys. Ok sure they will get an better job ($) then economics/commerce /law etc in a big finicial firm. But really they are kidding themselves. An applied maths/comp sci/'physics' graduate are the ones taking the serious, real, modelling and quantitive analysis jobs, in all areas - from stats and data analysis(mining) over to actual modelling and assesment. No offence, but u can't call some nice stats terminology useful, when you are ignorant of the maths and computational theory underlying, and used in implementing that knowledge. Really, acturial = applied stats course, much similar to engineer-science distinction i guess. The acturiasts is fine repetitively and mechanicaly implementing textbook techniques, but once it comes to critical thinking and self-analysis of those methods, and improvment, they simply do not have the fundamental theoritical knowledge.

Funny azn guys

2006-08-05T11:37:00.000+10:00

Man these guys are like famous.. got heaps of songs on you tube. I picked the best couple of cover on girls songs.
Yes im resorting to posting funny you tube stuff - i like my free internet.

Busy days

2006-08-03T15:00:00.000+10:00

Yep I have been keeping myself quit busy - but not stressful busy - just busy doing normal things, keeping up with work, planning for next year, seeing new friends and old ones.

Guess i gotta get some shindigs going for my birthday next week. And formal dinners and balls coming up. My birthday wishlist -

Key ring bottle opener - a cool one
Shot measurer thing
Maybe the smaller normal flat-bottom galsses - i only have wine glasses :(

k thx 88

Monarchy

2006-08-02T09:21:00.000+10:00

So apparently people in Thailand actually love their king? Mssive 60 year celebrations and suppport.
Don't get me wrong, all good Aussies love the queen (haha), but we don't exactly go around partying when it was her 50th year.

Personality

2006-07-28T10:04:00.000+10:00

My Jung Personality type

I am only moderately ENTP, with the exception of intuitive which apparently is strong.

This seemed an ok small test battery

3 randoms

2006-07-27T21:30:00.000+10:00

Firstly who thinks i look like him - the lead singer of Franz Ferdinad, who everyone claimed i looked like just after the Big Day out eraly this year.

Secondly Tip for the Lebanese Ambulances and red cross who are being hit by Israeli Apache helicopters-
Get black lotus elises - they cant get radar locks on them :P
Admittley, they'll just open loose with the cannon, or rocket pods - but hey, that not the high tech cool Israeli way.
I like top gear - such cool cars and insane challenges.

Thirdly, In other news - I feel like an Arts student, only 15 hours contact. I have enough time to get a job. Or to work harder ^^

Google!

2006-07-25T16:24:00.000+10:00

Hey go google 'josh knight' or 'joshua knight' or 'jay kay'+knight or josh.
Yeh im pretty happy. Happy dance time. Yes i am a geek who wants google ratings.

BTW i think the only reason I am so high is because i did edit the metadata and addede stuff onto the blogger default data. Having Josh in my title also would help.

More piano talk

2006-07-23T11:31:00.000+10:00

I have discovered Scriabin recently - love it. Its seems you could also create a conintum moving from Tchaikovsky-Stravinsky-Shostakovich-Scriaban-Rachmaninov-Prokofiev
in terms of progressing to more dissodant harmonies, and phrases of brutal anguish.

More concisely i will define what piano i like - emotion is number 1. Yes Thomas Lau, Debussy and Satie are just to subtle, at times it works well, but you can't write a 5 or 10 minute piece of just sublime emotions. Perhaps only as background music. Plus virtuoustic pieces are just so fun to play, and easiy to impress the ignorant with.

Pretty

2006-07-20T18:35:00.000+10:00

This is pretty - Final Fantasy X and MYMP siging..

Retirement

2006-07-19T18:53:00.000+10:00

Thats it.. im sick of getting niggling injuries running long distances.
I had a good runing career for middle distance and for soccer, as soon as i start going for 10+km non-stop your body just can't handle it if its not inclined to those endurance events.
And then to make things worse its hard-tissue like your tendons so it takes forever to get back to 100%.

Israel again...

2006-07-15T15:02:00.000+10:00

Well I’m blaming US - that is the incompetent bush administration.

Yes they should be responsible as the almost solo backers of the essentially Zionist movement. Also because they give more military funding to Israel than entire aid budget for Africa. Also for having the largest population of Jews outside Israel.
And yes it is a race issue. When people decide to tolerate an extreme apartheid state, it becomes a race issue. As we spoke-out against the whites is RSA, or US, we should speak out against the Jews in Israel.

But really, the whole Hamas being elected really just made the situation even more complicated than it was. It’s such a shame that it seems worst-case scenarios keep recurring.

Geeky Stuff

2006-07-14T09:42:00.000+10:00

Ok got nothing better to write bout, so stuff i read on Toms Hardawre Guide -

Sony is producing enough blue-laser-diodes for their blue-ray DVDs!! Apperently they are using them all in the PS3's, and not realesing enough to 3rd partys to make computer drives with. Genius marketing Sony :/ Though i cant wait till we have Blu ray burners - 25GB/50GB double sided storage capacity..mm tasty. Thats my entire music collection on 1 disc :)

And personally I am very much for the Blu Ray over HD-DVD. On the simple commercial side, that Sony has done well implementing the original DVD standard by its monoply, as it can repeat with Blu-Ray, rather then silly consortiums (well apart from double-sided RW are expensive). And on technical aspects, that the intuitve solution is of course to move to a smaller laser wavelength and smaller 'pits'.

Viva Italia

2006-07-10T18:42:00.000+10:00

Yay - they where in my tips at the start! :)

Bit of disappointing way to decide the final though - a penalty shootout - but at least it proves that barthez is over-rated and to old haha.

New Joggers

2006-07-08T15:22:00.000+10:00

Yep. You know just another post to show how im better than Matt cause i got better stuff than him. Its the competition to see who can mis-use scholarhsip money the best.

Top of the line Brooks.. full gel. I didnt justify paying another $50 for the Asics cause i dont run that much.

And btw.. my feet arent that small!!! Size 9uk/10us/28cm. :P

EDIT - Matt apparently does have better shoes he has been hiding - top of line Asics Kayano - which wouldn't even suit me cause i 'pronate' a bit, and there really for high mileage marathons - which is over kill for me.

Booo!

2006-07-06T15:04:00.000+10:00

Ok yes Italy and France have displayed arguabley the best team play which is good. But both were mediocre in their group rounds. And there both divers!!

I think we can all admit Portugal clearly had the most enternainting play - and came out and attacked every single game. And didnt rely on one hero, rahter a group of excellent players taking turns.

Give me some more time to think about the final prediction....

On another note - i think i've noticed that the hotties Fernando Torres and Cristiano Ronaldo both look youngish? like myself? And apperently the girls still think they hav hot bodies despite having only light builds? like myself? hehehe
okok.. ill stop the comparisons at that. But seriously it is good that normal small guys can still be 'hot' :P

Semi-finals

2006-07-02T13:31:00.000+10:00

Damn it was time for Argentina to win...

Aynway here goes -

Germany 0-0 Italy... germany on pentalties again? :s
Portugal 2-1 France... Decco back but Petit out? :s

It to hard to seirously call, both should be very close, and it will depend on how they go out and play.
I hope for a Italy and Portugal as there were two teams i do support.
Its been interesting that both France and Italy started out quite un-impressive but have really picked up. And all 4 are proving that old experienced players can still win the world cup.
On character wise though, i wouldnt like Italy of France to win, cause nobody likes the French and the Italians still are divers and dirty players in my books, not to mention corrupt.

Quarter Finals

2006-06-29T22:41:00.000+10:00

Sorry my 16 were little wrong thanks to some very close games.
My tips

Germany 1-4 Argentina
Italy 2-1 Ukraine
England 0-3 Portugal
Brazil 1-1 France .. France on Shoot-outs
(france has great record against brazil and Zidane still has the touch adn Barthez still one of the best)

2006-06-28T23:29:00.000+10:00

For those people who dont know where tamworth is!!
Its about 60,000 population - but spread quite spread out.
About 400km from either Sydney or Brisbane, and 200km from coast - nice coast Port Macquarie with nice surf and warm water, as good as the Gold Coast.
It also has basic flight training at the Airport where most RAAF and RSAF (singapore) future fighter pilots go to learn their basics.

Dream over

2006-06-27T03:39:00.000+10:00

Well what can i say.
But to point that kewell was cruical. He was really the only one who could finish, which the others lacked. We where just taking to long to get the shot on.
Thankfully we had a briliiant ref. However that straight red was clearly not goal-scoring oppurtunity, but probably close enough to the strict rules FIFA wants in the world cup. Perhaps it was only fair that they were given the penalty at our end. Me personally as a Ref would of easily given the penalty, just a shame it had terrible timing - and it was a bit reckless of Neil to panic like that. It was our fault for not capitalising. Guus should of went on a crazy offensive again and put on all our guys in last 20, rather than waiting for exra time. Italy has the likes of Totti who can score from set pieces, and the longer we play the more set pieces would be given to Italy.
An upset would of been nice. But we really didnt deserve one, we just weren't attacking enough, just possesing. And on a plyer-by-player Italy, lke Brazil, just simply out classes us.
And also - can someone explained since when Italy has gone from the dive squad to profeesional take-out squad? I mean they were always dirty, just not so blantant compared with there diving.

Not happy John!

2006-06-26T21:00:00.000+10:00

Damn you John and your dirty dutch team! (John was the Aussie who wore an orange shirt to the Aus v Netherlands friendly).

Just cause your coach was to incompetent (he has little experience.. only cause we stole Guus haha) to field Van Nisteroy - you then TOOK OUT CRISTIANO RONALDO!

I mean they these cry-baby azns cause we beat Japan.. try to call Aus dirty... but cmon! The only cards australia has got have been due to the FIFA crack down for the world cup.. so Ronaldo diving = auto yellow. I mean we werent rugby tackling, headbutting, pushing over, bad sportmanship like what was going on between Portugal and Holland.

I have to say.. i was embarassed to be a portugal supporter. Go Spain!!

And you know whats worse.. now england (who were lucky to win) are going to have a decent chance aginst Portugal with Deco and C Ronaldo it looks out - if they win im gonna get swamped by stupid England (i.e Beckham and Rooney) fanboys grrr.

Round of 16 predictions

2006-06-24T17:06:00.000+10:00

Germany 3-2 Sweden
Argentina 4-1 Mexico
England 2-1 Ecuador
Portugal 3-1 Netherlands
Italy 1-2 Australia
Swiss 3-0 Ukraine
Brazil 5-0 Ghana
Spain 3-1 France

BTW the only 1 i got wrong for getting to the second round was Czech losing to Ghana.

Crazy Croatia

2006-06-23T07:04:00.000+10:00

WTF!! :s

OK the refs have been ok so far, just 1 or 2 bad calls, that have been big ones, and perhaps a bit favourable to big stars diving. But this crazy english guy!!

First off - the penatly dip over the wall - brillliant - first time the ball has dipped htis World Cup - cause its yet again a lighter ball that floats.

Then there was a full-on rugby tackle on Viduka in the goal - 1 automatic Red dot shot missed.
Then 2 'hand of god' like defences on corners/free kicks into the box - anohter 2 yellow card/dot shots missed for australia.

Now i think the penalties and that wasn't bad during most of the match otherwise. He was lettings us play a physical match. And i think Croatia clearly proved that Australia is while physical - not a dirty and fouling side like Croatia was behaving towards the end.

Yes - we need to shot Kalac seeing as Schwarzer is in brilliant form and wouldnt of made the fumbles he had.

Then it got ridicolous the dissent towrds the ref. Siminuc stayed on after his second yellow card as he had forgetten to give the Red or something???? :s:s Why didnt the assitant correct this?
Then he got a third yellow and the red that time! :s :s :s

And the dissent and aggresion of croatia just went nuts....incomptent ref....

Ah well its going to be interesting Aus vs Italia...u know with all their diving - hopefully its a good ref.

Why do Croatia where check shirts, so i get them confused with Czech Republic? lol

Finished

2006-06-22T13:17:00.000+10:00

K im all finished exams now...so will concetrate on the World Cup! :)

BTW a forewarning that i will be home from 27/6-7/7 and i will probably disappear from the internet for that time.

I think Australia should get up over Croatia if we play well - but our finishing may let us down again - cause stupid Viduka has brilliant touch but can't shot - if he was fitter we could drop him back in the center. And hopefully Croatia misses a penalty shot again to - cause the crap refs prejudice against us will probably give them plenty of penalties.

Piano

2006-06-20T19:43:00.000+10:00

OK this is just my piano/classical/jazz rant for those interested -

Well to be honest ive only actually done Grade 6 AMEB but that was when i was 12 - i played trumpet instead and did grade 8 on that of course - but more importantly i had a great teachers in high school who taught me jazz and pop and composition and musicology - all that good theory - though again i didnt actually take music in yr12 - mainly because i had already read the textbook and new it all.. and had decided defintly against trying to make career out of music - as i was only a big-fish in a small pond (Tamworths only 50,000 pop).
Obviously classical gets boring after you practice more than an hour or two a day. And even jazz does after a while. Although its nice to get the ex-princple trumpet of SSO telling you that your talented enough to do a trumpet jazz or classical major - Or to have the respect as being one of the best all-round amatuer pianists...
And BTW i do seriously believe i could do AMus piano in summer if i concentrated on it in 2nd semester - i play pieces easily at that difficulty i just dont bother polishing them for performance haha. But i dont feel the need to spend a large amount of money and time on a silly little piece of paper which does'nt actually mean much. Plus i can get gigs easily off jazz if i ever wanted to - which i cant get off classical :P

Classical Piano Composers - 20th Century neo-romantics!!! Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Thaicovsky, + Schoenberg, Webern.
Plus the big 3 - Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven. Also Satin-sans and a little Debussy and Satie.

Classical General - Really all the generally popular things. From JS Bach cello to Holsts The Planets and soundtrack writers John Willams. The big symphonies, the big chamber string, the big vocal+orchestra works. String Quartets, trios, duets. String concertos and Trumpet concertos. Though the Russian 20th Centuries I dont like much of their orchestral - but their strings are good.
I dont like Opera - except when u can actually see it on stage. And just straight choir without much orchestral emphasis is a bit boring.
Probably one thing i do like which isnt mainstream is Guitar.

Jazz - Acid, cool, bebop, latin and funk stuff mostly. I dont mind just standard singers - provided they have good bands. But definetly is post-1960's. I played trumpet in commericial Quartet, Big band. But only played piano just for singers - but even singers got me a few times just to do a solo trumpet over the piano to make them look good haha. Did keys for not-so-serious soft rockish cover bands when they needed it.

Um yep thats about it... oh played around a little with DJing and mixing breaks and that in Reason (software sampler/synth tool) - but was never serious cause its expensive to get the DJ gear - and then the gigs you get will just make u play crappy stuff anyway...

Clubin

2006-06-20T11:14:00.000+10:00

The bogan gets in

The PJs get in
The KKK gets inKKK partyinAww the jocks dont get in :P

lol This was great... testing how bad u could dress fin a club provided if u had a couple of hot chicks. From the Chaser.

Crazy

2006-06-18T13:23:00.000+10:00

WTF!

After serbia and croatia not looking crash hot.. i was hoping for a big performance by Czech..

And Azzuris!! How could you! Bloody bunch of pretty boys... your turning into the french.. or even worse the enlgish soccer team lol!!

Ah well.. big night tonite... i dont think croatia has the attacking capability to get goals against japan.. bout hopefully they do. If Aus can play smart and exploit brazils mediocre defence we could have a chance of keepin up with their goals.. cause our defence will porbably get run around in circles by kakka etc. And it would be funny to see korea beat france, though they shouldnt if france plays like team and gives oppurunties to henry, veira. Unlike stupid portugal last night.. so many goals they should of got if they played smart in a team more. Hopefully brazil doesnt play like a team tonight...

Impressive

2006-06-17T13:10:00.000+10:00

Well what can i say.. Argentina is in form.

Beuatiful teamwork, thats what the games about.

Brings back good memories.. in the last world cup.. my long hair i had a few months before.. my nike headband.. i looked so argetinian.. even the argentinian exchange girl agreed.. well not that i was as hot as those argentinian guys haha. Damn should scan in an old photo.

Changing topic... friendster is a fascinating social networking thingy. Its a great idea that actually proves how it is a small world. Though only singapores/malaysians seem to be usig it much... itd be great if MSN implemented something similar.. i now they have tried to get some kind of friend thing on the live.. but i dont think its of the same calibre as friendster is.

My tips

2006-06-15T11:35:00.000+10:00

Ok now everyone has played once, I will put my serious predictions down.

First each group winners

A - Germany, Ecuador
B - England, Sweden
C - Argentina, Netherlands
D - Mexico, Portugal
E - Italy, Czech
F - Brazil, Australia
G - France, Swiss
H - Spain, Tunisia

Yep, boring, no upsets except maybe Ukraine choking and maybe france and sweden choke to.

My tips for finals - Brazil, Swiss (the new gemany lol), Mexico, Spain, Czech, Italy, and netherlands, Argentina if in form - and of course Aus if we have lucky matches.

Skin changes..

2006-06-14T19:24:00.000+10:00

Yeh for those who saw.. sorri bout the change to the FF skin..
I dont realli like anime, but i do like some of the ideas in FF Advent children.. and especially the quote that was there and it was a nice skin. But i know how to use photoshop to make a skin and know about how to interface with blogger in html so its all good.

I might make a decent one from scracth.. or adapt graphics from this one haha.. but its tough to put ideas and things on a skin cause were always changing.. and were diverse and unique indvivuals.. well at least i am.. but maybe a collage of diffferent hobbies/ideas would be ok..

Yeh i think its betta for ppl to just read my profile if they want to know a bit about me.. rather than trying to overly press ideas on my blog skin.

1 small step...

2006-06-13T01:12:00.000+10:00

Now we just got to get win against croatia :)

Damn it was a bloody clear match.. aus was all over them for periods... just stalkin the 20yard box.
Compared with quick counter attacks that they didnt know what to do with when they got down our end.

But realli... screw the luck of the irish.. we stole it!

I just hope we play a betta side from the starrt of the game next time.. realli Cahill and Aloisi have proved themself in qualifiers.. i cant see why there not runnin on??

Although from what i saw from friendlies... this was expected.. aus has realli stepped up on some aspects of their game.. japan has been mediocre (like 1-0 malta)

Hype

2006-06-12T20:10:00.000+10:00

U know what i just realised.. how stupid all this hype over Jap vs Aus is.. cause Croatia is a serious force.. (although not to be confused with Czech who are ridicuously good)

Anyway for handy reference... (not that it means much.. USA no 5 roflmao)

1 Brazil
2 Czech Republic
3 The Netherlands
4 Mexico
5 USA
5 Spain
7 Portugal
8 France
9 Argentina
10 England
11 Nigeria
11 Denmark
13 Italy
14 Turkey
15 Cameroon
16 Sweden
17 Egypt
18 Japan
19 Germany
20 Greece
21 Tunisia
22 Uruguay
23 Iran
23 Croatia
25 Romania
26 Costa Rica
27 Colombia
28 Senegal
29 Poland
29 Korea Republic
31 Ireland
32 Cote DIvoire
33 Paraguay
34 Saudi Arabia
35 Switzerland
36 Morocco
37 Russia
37 Bulgaria
39 Ecuador
40 Norway
41 Slovakia
42 Honduras
42 Australia
44 Serbia and Montenegro
45 Ukraine
46 Jamaica
47 Trinidad and Tobago

Day 3!

2006-06-12T15:56:00.000+10:00

Go Mexico! My friend said they were good.. but i didnt believe him haha.
I hoped for more from portugal... but it is always hard to judge the calibre of African teams. Apparently a lot of Angola actually play for Portugal clubs, as it use to be a colony.
Another unconvincing performance by Holland - but they are getting the results still i guess.

Silly Swedes

2006-06-11T10:20:00.000+10:00

ROFL

Swedes 0-0 with trinadad & tobagao WTF!? Hopefullly it was just nervousness... have to watch highlights tonight, cause they were one of the teams that could do suprisingly well if tehy got it together. I mean Swede = top european clubs, T&T = low end english clubs :s

England suxs haha 1-0 paraguay. Paraguay unlucky not to equalise. Does anyone think its funny a 2m tall guy has the name 'Crouch'?

Argentina was also unimpressive scoreline of 2-1 Ivory coast. But hopefully they played well - wait for highlights also..

Yeh im just a bit shocked cause I only thought england would have trouble - the others shouuld of been walk overs.

It all happening!

2006-06-10T10:29:00.000+10:00

Good start to World Cup!

Germany comfortable 4-2 over Costa Rica.
Ecuador went betta than i thought 2-0 over Poland.

No - i didnt stay up! I'll watch the replays today.

Take home...

2006-06-09T11:20:00.000+10:00

Man looks at this... trying to make scientist be political or educational.. think about policy.. so frustrating talking to stupid ignorant disinterested public.
8 hours for..

The Question

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has commissioned a television documentary on the topic of abrupt climate change, in response to public interest generated by the Hollywood film The Day After Tomorrow, and the generally high level of interest in weather-related program content. You have been approached to act as consultant climatologist for the project. The first part of your commission is to prepare an outline of the science relevant to the topic of abrupt climate change. The producers have also asked you to list suggestions of material that might be useful for the documentary, such as visuals (including web-based material), data, interviews, and locations for filming.

You are now required to provide a comprehensive and detailed outline of the material on both the science and additional material. This outline (of no more than 1500 words) must include the following:

· a full, structured introduction

· a detailed and well structured outline of the content, including possible diagrams (or references to or descriptions of diagrams) to be used in presentation. The outline should indicate the reasons for including particular sections and material

· types and sources of data that could be used in the report

· suggestions of people/office holders who should be interviewed for the report

· a full, structured conclusion

· complete references (using the Harvard standard referencing system)

In addition to the outline, the producers also need a one-page executive summary of the topic (approx. 400 words) to table at the next ABC Board meeting in order to secure funding for the project. The summary must highlight the principal issues and importance of the subject. This document must be presented together with the outline of the report.

Maybe pysch is a real science..

2006-06-08T23:26:00.000+10:00

From here (note you dont need to actually write - just answer the questions objectively)

You plan ahead, and are interested in beauty, design, outward appearance, and symmetry.
You are a shy, idealistic person who does not find it easy to have relationships, especially intimate ones.
You are negative, fearful, resistant, doubtful, and/or selfish.
You are a talkative person, maybe even a busybody!
You enjoy life in your own way and do not depend on the opinions of others.

Or maybe it just seems true like how astrology does.. cause they write the most general bs you can always project upon yourself....

Computer Games

2006-06-06T15:04:00.000+10:00

Why do i like games??

Well the way you get involve in them. I have never been very scared watching suposedly scary movies, simply because you cant get invovle. Yes sometimes i do really get involve with relating to characters and are impressed by originality in movies. And the same goes with computer games. I think that is why i dont like RPG because i cant relate to their mystical characters (including stupid the sims). And strategy dont have characters to relate to lol, and i dispute that they actually require much intelligence or creativity or improveisation - just uber-micro and memorising the correct building plan.

But a good shooter, with well done plot and ideas you just cant help but get enthralled as the characters. Good examples are deus ex, Half life, FEAR, CoD, Doom 3 (bad story but so scary), Hitman series.
And example of bad shooters would be Quake series or Farcry or Unreal Tornament.

Also the social aspect of playing multiplayer. And the unlimited creativity that FPSs give compared to RPG/strategy were it seems a bit repetitive tactics. You can realy mix it up in shooters and take on different roles each time, and still win. And they are so social and fast paced. Yelling at ppl on the mic and that. I cant see how u can get that adrenaline rush from other genres, at lesat for me.

Yeh but mainly i just wanna be a FEAR and HL and CoD fanboy :P

Oh and MMOFPS like BF2 are cool, if u have that many friends lol. But they do take some skill away, make it more random if u get killed, but on the ohter hand it incresaes squad based teamwork even more which is good.

Aus vs Holland

2006-06-05T09:37:00.000+10:00

Was i dreaming?!

1-1 lol
Such as dirty match by us, think we injured half their team in a 'friendly'. Bring back Muscat!
But it was impressive, though they dominated we managed to keep there oppurtunities out. Clearly man of match Schwazer.

They had lots to prove, No.3 should walk over No.42, as they do choke often. Especialy as we didnt have Kewell. Now it would be funny if we pulled out Kewell for the Leichstein match and lost haha.

I take back everything i said about Australia being mediorce, cause were damn lucky! Though our defence is very worrying, I cant wait for the Japan match!

My beliefs

2006-06-04T20:26:00.001+10:00

OK this is my serious beliefs this time.. plz don’t bother attacking me on my many 1-line antagonistic and debatable arguments. I mention many to provide a wide range of ideas that influence, my belief is not contingent on every single argument being 100% correct. Plus it comes down to faith. And assumptions. Maybe intelligence isn’t the way. Maybe we should be savage selfish animals. But God has put a gut feeling, via evolution, in us to rebuke that on common sense.

Feel free to argue but be aware that i spend a long time forming this opinions and beliefs, and behind this summary of ideas there is a lot of thought and reading and debating. But feel free to comment or email me if you have serious rebuttal, or hopefully questions. Perhaps you long for meaning and the ultimate truth in your life too? Or add me to ur msn :P

I’m a scientist - I believe in searching from a simple pragmatic answer that best represents the empirical observations I make. Also on epistemology, for anything to have the real meaning, it must be the objective absolute universal truth. Science or human thinking alone cannot provide this. Divine revelation can.

There is a God - which is needed as an a priori for any kind of further philosophy - to support the superiority of our own 'superior' intelligence and rationally, in light of modern science which shows the world is not so rational and intelligent, and that perhaps our intelligence is simply a combination of complex reactions. This is the simplest answer to many of philosophies big problems. Also many other intelligent scientists conclude some deeper meaning - it is common de facto statement that scientists believe in a 'pantheistic' quality - that understands nature is supreme.

I have extended this philosophically necessary God further to the Christian sense - I need more to my life. I need the suffering to not be in vain. I need something to explain the 'un-sensible sensibility of our universe' (Weinberg). A creator. Omnipotent, omniscience, sovereign, benevolent, spiritual. A personal knowing of one own worth has so many benefits. Modern liberal religious institutions are so beneficial to the participant, and we have evolved to long for a God (Freud).

Does this mean you are supernatural? - not really - well there is a God who is AS big as nature - but nature is infinite!! Other universe etc etc, makes 'nature', including the unobservable to us, infinite. The observable is finite though. So it’s really just a naturalistic pantheistic God. But should God be viewed as bigger than nature? Well if nature is infinite, how does it limit him?

This step from a natural -> supernatural is faith? - Well I argue that I don’t need to accept super-naturalism. The spiritual realm can evolve out of the complexity of the natural world. I.e. standard holistic thought on consciousness - that the mechanistic sum produces something greater and unpredictable from its constituents. The same goes for 'miracles' (which I highly dispute, providence is a much better term in my liberal theology).

Why Christianity? - Because it is by far the most successful religion - it has provided a key role in the immense success of western society c.f. non-western society. For example it supports science and social-capitalism quite clearly, with mainstream process theology. Also uniquely, and crucially, realises we are limited and doomed to failure to our own badness that is the human condition. That God does the impossible for us, making us good, making the utopia and idealism we all strive for. And does a far better job than any communist has lol.

Big problem that comes up everywhere - free-will vs. predestination - Silly question as God is outside time, causality does not apply to him.

So I hope I’ve shown you a little glimpse into how I reconcile two areas of thinking which are often done badly, and misused against each other, or for evil. And that I have strongly reject spiritualism and strong super-naturalism such as Gnostic and New-age as bad scientific thinking and bad religious thinking. However I do need to accept some spiritual divine revelation such as in the Bible, but I think we all gain this type of wisdom to some degree ourselves. We all have intuitive morals we have not deducted scientifically. And as mentioned above, spirituality can just be a holistic product of naturalism. So any claims to spirituality have to have some kind of scientific hypothesis and falsifiablity that science uses. Christianity provides this, and it has been well supported by evidence, IMHO. Spiritualism, and bad theology such as Pentecostalism, Catholicism does not provide this blending of scientific thinking which is key.

My cranky rant..

2006-06-02T15:24:00.000+10:00

Yep im sick of college.

Criticisms of the instituition -
- Alcoholic inducing
- Non-selection - have to put up with some people not so academic or cultural or even sporting.
- Non-existant arts/cultural/academic excellence program - its worse than school - plus at school i had time to play sport, and was decent at it :)
- People suddenly change minds based on rumours/gossip without actualy asking the 3rd party about it.

Yeh so i guess thats mostly against some of the people, not the college itself. But have the benifits outwayed the negatives? I doubt it.. I know now there are other colleges that i would of prefered to go to in Canberra, and i definitely would of loved some of the selective colleges at Sydney (cough New college).

But i guess this is just why i choose a public over grammar boarding schools.. life experiences.. learning to deal with people and life, even if it isnt the easiest at times.

I think on my old blog.. some may remeber.. me ranting on how its hard to find people like me.. well it is still true that some of those i most enjoy are outside of college. But its has become eaiser now i am more busy and am not so much a partier - i can relate more to the studious type. My parties is usualy me having a (one!) beer by myself in my room chating on msn.. its a sad life lol.

Its tough being loved and accepted by most.. viciously despised/undermined by others.. especialy when those groups overlap.

2006-06-01T12:26:00.000+10:00

Something i got in email in reply to my post...

I am not that kind of guy!!! I rebuke girls=sex, and girls=evil. So the whole thing falls apart :)

The Beard...

2006-05-30T19:25:00.000+10:00

Yep this is what can happen when u fool yourself into thinking you don't care what girls think of you.. or think you can pull off the beard look anyway haha. (hey brad pitt can.. i have blue eyes to lol).
Anyway i thought this was worthy of a post.. definately a highlight of my life recently.
And at least I actually look 21 with it.

Australia vs Greece

2006-05-29T11:45:00.000+10:00

Good game.
Ausies dominated first half. We went asleep and back to 'Farina football' in second half, but kept up a strong defence. Definetly deserved 1 or 2 more, just look at the corners (~12-3).
Sure, Greece didnt follow up from Euro 2004, but there stilll a top team, and we had a convincing performance, and we still are missing our stars! (Kewell)
Look forward to our other warmups.

Girls

2006-05-28T17:19:00.000+10:00

This is a rebuttal to Barney.. he is only 1st year maths.. i have 3years of it..

Now his flaw is that he is working in the real plane. In step 4 problems should be a negative number, as it is a negative quanitity, the abscene of happiness.
Therefore, Women =a+b*i, a complex conjugate.
No to transalate this into a real value, we use Eulers theorem exp(i*y)=cos(y)+i*sin(y).
Hence a periodic function. SOmeitmes women are problems, sometiems they are the opposite - they bring happiness.
Thx Barney lol.

My l337 Rig

2006-05-28T16:38:00.000+10:00

'Yeh.. i like FPS games.. what can i say.. theres nothing like hunting down and killing people.' FPS Doug - Pure Pwnage
And to do that you need a decent rig lol.
Had this for a few months.. specs -
Athlon X2 3800+ (2x 3200+ cores 2x512Kb) 2x2Ghz@2.2Ghz OC
Zalman 9500Cu cooler - best thing bar liquid cooling
Leadtek Nvidia 7800GT 256MB(256it) - 400/1000Mhz @ 450/1100Mhz OC in 3D
Geil 2x512MB DDR1 CAS2.5-3-3-6 latency with heatspreader
Gigabyte K8N Nforce 4-SLI MB
Seagate 200GB SATA 2 300MB/s (plus seagate 80GB SATA1 with NCQ for backups)
Antec superlanboy case - windowed aluminium case
Antec trueblue 480W blue light psu
Plain fan controller (no lcd)
UV light that flash with music
UV sensitive wrap stuff for cables

Plus..
Leadtek Digital TV/Radio tuner with remote
Samsung 930BF 19" 4ms
Logitech MX1000 Laser mouse

My bike..

2006-05-28T16:34:00.000+10:00

This is me and my bike on top of Mt Stromolo.. circa 782m - bout 200m and 20km from where i live. 2hours and 3ltrs of water later.. through 35C heat.. good fun. Having decent (~$1000) bike helps though.

Why?

2006-05-28T12:19:00.000+10:00

Well i semm to meet a lot of people.. especially lately.. and those relationships ahve been fairly internet (or intranet) based.

So this is just so poeple can easily get to know a little about me, so i dont ahve to remember to mention all my many experiences and aspects.

Of course its important to note that for my work/study side check out my work website, at RSES ANU

Oh well.. ill work on getting a decent template. cyas.