tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73789542024-03-24T06:55:55.238+13:00Much Todo About Nothing.<p>"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
What does man gain from all his labour at which he toils under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.comBlogger475125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-20573886373466773742014-01-02T01:18:00.000+13:002014-01-02T01:23:49.967+13:002013 (& abit of 2012, because I apparently forgot last year...)<h3 class="post-title">
2013
</h3>
1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?<br /><br />- (2012) travelled to the USA for a conference (San diego)<br /><br />- (2012) moved to Belgium to live (Liege)<br /><br />- (2012) started a PhD in Genomics<br /><br />- Explored parts of Belgium<br /><br />- Visited Lake Tekapo<br /><br />- Spent a week in New York (conference and a couple of days in NYC)<br /><br />- Spent 3 weeks in Seattle! (Courses)<br /><br />- Couple of days near Chicago<br /><br />- Tried to learn French...<br /><br />2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?<br /><br />- As always the one from 10 years back to make no new ones<br /><br />3. Did anyone close to you give birth?<br /><br />- (2012) J&J<br /><br />- Friends from work (S&J)<br /><br />4. Did anyone close to you die?<br /><br />- No<br /><br />5. What countries did you visit?<br /><br />- Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, USA<br /><br />6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?<br /><br />- A published paper<br /><br />7. What dates from 2013 will remain etched in your memory, and why?<br /><br />- None<br /><br />8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?<br /><br />-Lots of Travel & PhD work<br /><br />9. What was your biggest failure of the year?<br /><br />- Getting the 1st paper written & learning French<br /><br />10. Did you suffer illness or injury?<br /><br />- Nothing significant.<br /><br />11. What was the best thing you bought?<br /><br />- A very nice Camera :)<br /><br />12. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?<br /><br />- Politicians as usual<br /><br />13. Whose behaviour merited celebration?<br /><br />- Nothing specific<br /><br />14. Where did most of your money go?<br /><br /> - Living costs<br /><br />15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?<br /><br />- My PhD and some associated research<br /><br />- The new Camera<br /><br />16. What song will always remind you of 2013?<br /><br />- None<br /><br />17. Compared to this time last year, are you:<br /><br />a) happier or sadder?<br /><br />- Much the same<br /><br />b) fatter or thinner?<br /><br />- Much the same<br /><br />c) richer or poorer?<br /><br />- Much the same (being a student slows things down) $ wise, Richer in experience<br /><br />18. What do you wish you’d done more of?<br /><br />- Travelling around Europe<br /><br />19. What do you wish you’d done less of?<br /><br />- Procrastinating, sitting in Air planes<br /><br />20. How did you spend Christmas?<br /><br />- (2012) With new friends in Liege<br /><br />- With an old friend from High school days<br /><br />21. Did you fall in love in 2013?<br /><br />- I wish<br /><br />22. What was your favourite TV programme?<br /><br />- Psyco Pass<br /><br />23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?<br /><br />-No one specifically<br /><br />24. What was the best book you read?<br /><br />- To many to count<br /><br />25. What was your greatest musical discovery?<br /><br />- none<br /><br />26. What did you want and get?<br /><br />- Camera<br /><br />- New friends<br /><br />27. What did you want and not get?<br /><br />- GF<br /><br />- A paper published<br /><br />28. What was your favourite film of this year?<br /><br />- Probably the second Hobbit<br /><br />29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?<br /><br />- Nothing, turned 29.<br /><br />30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?<br /><br />- gf probably hard to know though and life is good as it is<br /><br />31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?<br /><br />- Merino<br /><br />32. What kept you sane?<br /><br />- Animals.<br /><br />33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?<br /><br />- Didn't meet any.<br /><br />34. What political issue stirred you the most?<br /><br />- Stupidity of current ideologically driven government actions<br /><br />35. Who did you miss?<br /><br />- The Kiwi (and NZ) crowd<br /><br />36. Who was the best new person you met?<br /><br />- Lots of people in the Lab<br /><br />37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.<br /><br />- Travel!<br /><br />38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.<br /><br />-NoneAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-8014003999803812222014-01-02T00:54:00.001+13:002014-01-02T00:54:39.245+13:00An Update From Liege: AKA the Undead Blog moves again.<i>Damn just found this post from the begining of 2012 that </i><br />
<i>i thought I'd already published ah well better late than never:</i><br />
<i>---------------------------------------------------------------- </i><br />
<br />
<i>So I thought is was time for an end of year post for 2012, considering all that's happened during the year.</i><br />
<i>Note: I've absolutely no idea how many people still have this in there RSS feeds, so it will be interesting to see if any one views this.</i><br />
<br />
So as those who know me are probably aware I applied for and was awarded a Scholarship to study for a PhD in Genomics/Sequencing in late 2011 by my employer (<a href="http://www.lic.co.nz/" target="_blank">LIC</a>). After investigating a few options I decided that the best supervisor for my interests would be Michel Georges head of <a href="http://www.giga.ulg.ac.be/jcms/prod_205624/en/unit-of-animal-genomics" target="_blank">Animal Genomics</a> at The University of Liege based in Liege, Belgium.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/8267626924/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Liege - View From the Stairs - Colour by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img alt="Liege - View From the Stairs - Colour" height="287" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8222/8267626924_fecf98effe_c.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liege & The Meuse @ Sunset - December 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
After this was agreed on by all parties it was decided that it would be best to start in the first Semester of the European academic year, October 2012. As a result I spent most of 2012 living in NZ working for LIC on there next generation sequencing project and taking a few papers at the local University (University of Waikato) and attending a couple of conferences.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/6733955531/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="San Diego 2012 by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img alt="San Diego 2012" height="316" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6733955531_9a1d972a91_z.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">San Deigo, USA - Jan 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/7240666908/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="University of Waikato - Autumn Morning - Nex by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img alt="University of Waikato - Autumn Morning - Nex" height="275" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7088/7240666908_2d5b2f34d5_c.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">University of Waikato - Hamilton, NZ</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/7834563328/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Knox Church, Dunedin, NZ by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img alt="Knox Church, Dunedin, NZ" height="500" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7138/7834563328_4bf04e0e8f.jpg" width="375" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knox Chapel - Dunedin, NZ</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then in September 2012 I packed up and moved south from Hamilton (NZ) to Christchurch (NZ) where I spent a few weeks catching up with friends and family before leaving for Liege.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/8176607445/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Port-Hills-Sept-2012-pano_v1 by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img alt="Port-Hills-Sept-2012-pano_v1" height="148" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8176607445_b6479a8e12_c.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banks Peninsula - Canterbury NZ</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I arrived in Liege on the 1st of October 2012 after 33 hours in transit (Christchurch > Singapore > Frankfurt > Brussels > Liege). Dropped at the door of an apartment I had for 2 months I had time to put away my luggage and then was picked up by a very helpful member of Michels staff. Who showed me around the area, helped setup a Bank account pointed out the Bus routes and then took me to the lab and introduced me to the other members who thankfully all speak English to some degree or another and thus my time in Liege began.<br />
<br />
A few Interesting things about Liege:<br />
<br />
Liege is one of the major cities of Wallonia, the French speaking region of Belgium and as such French is the primary language. This can make for interesting times for a monolingual English speaker, as many of the older locals (30+), speak very little English or prefer to pretend they don't speak any.<br />
Belgium is slightly obsessed with your address. Unlike New Zealand (at least as far as I'm aware) the location in which your living is of critical importance when ever you try to deal with any official in Belgium. As such you are required to register where you are living with the Local city hall (both Citizens and Visitors) if your planning to stay for more than a short period of time. Once you've registered with the city hall they send a Police officer to visit you at the location you've specified to confirm you do actually live there and the Police register it as your place of Residence. This can cause so irritation if you've just arrived and are looking for an apartment as you need a permanent address for Residency, you need Residency for Health Insurance and so on. Theoretically you need a local address for a Bank account though thankfully I managed to get away with using my NZ address to many peoples surprise for the first couple of months. Though the Bank did managed to send my first bank card to NZ which was slightly troublesome.<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyway I eventually managed to settle in and start the PhD work. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-42881801579689454182012-01-02T19:26:00.003+13:002012-01-02T19:30:44.841+13:002011Following my tradition of copying <a href="http://inthedesert23.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011.html">Katherine's New Years post</a>, here is 2011, though she's managed to beat me this time.<br />
<br />
1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?<br />
<br />
- Plenty of awesome technical (Sequencing) related stuff at work.<br />
- Got to work with real Whole Genome Sequence data<br />
- Attended a Scientific confrence<br />
- Traveled (domestically) for work<br />
- Found out that Cider is drinkable<br />
- Joined a regular pub quiz team<br />
- Went to a world cup rugby game <br />
<br />
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?<br />
<br />
- As always I'm still following
one from about 8 years back which was to make no more New Years
resolutions<br />
<br />
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?<br />
<br />
- No<br />
<br />
4. Did anyone close to you die?<br />
<br />
- Still nope, thankfully<br />
<br />
5. What countries did you visit?<br />
<br />
- None unfortunately, though looking alot better on this front for 2012.<br />
<br />
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?<br />
<br />
- A lover or relationship deeper than a friendship, which unsurprisingly is the same as last year<br />
<br />
7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched in your memory, and why?<br />
<br />
- Hmm Feb 22nd I guess, that's earthquakes two years in a row even though I was there for neither.<br />
<br />
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?<br />
<br />
- Getting the LIC PhD Studentship/Scholarship, (A new Job effectively for the third year in a row), this one's going to result in a lot of changes, less money medium term though much better long term prospects if all goes well, and effectively commits me to working for LIC for the next 6 or so years.<br />
<br />
9. What was your biggest failure of the year?<br />
<br />
- Same as last year probably to be more outgoing, failure to actively seek out new people or find a relationship<br />
<br />
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?<br />
<br />
-None<br />
<br />
11. What was the best thing you bought?<br />
<br />
- Nothing really fills me with amazement, the tablet is cool and the books/games were interesting but that's it really<br />
<br />
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?<br />
<br />
- A certain percentage of the worlds population involved in Arab spring and the Occupy movement.<br />
<br />
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?<br />
<br />
Same as last year I guess.<br />
<br />
14. Where did most of your money go?<br />
<br />
-Rent, Savings, Books and Games<br />
<br />
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?<br />
<br />
<br />
-The PhD scholarship I guess, everything's going to change. Nervous and excited at the same time.<br />
<br />
16. What song will always remind of you of 2011?<br />
<br />
-none<br />
<br />
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:<br />
a) happier or sadder?<br />
<br />
- Happier again I got to spend a large part of the year working with Sequencing data and other interesting problems at work and then was offered the PhD position a few weeks before Christmas!<br />
<br />
b) fatter or thinner?<br />
<br />
- No change from last year seem to have stabilised would be nice to drop a little more, even though
it's currently on the lighter side of a perfectly healthy weight.<br />
<br />
c) richer or poorer?<br />
<br />
- Richer, pay rises + a decent job tends to result in this.<br />
<br />
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?<br />
<br />
- Getting to know people/make new friends<br />
<br />
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?<br />
<br />
-Spending money, as always and probably spending too much time sitting around in the flat.<br />
<br />
20. How did you spend Christmas?<br />
<br />
-With family in Chch<br />
<br />
21. Did you fall in love in 2011?<br />
<br />
- I wish<br />
<br />
22. What was your favourite TV programme?<br />
<br />
- None really this year<br />
<br />
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?<br />
<br />
- Not really, still hate stupidity, especially the religious type<br />
- oh and any one who smokes, I really really hate smokers!<br />
<br />
24. What was the best book you read?<br />
<br />
- I've read so many I'm lossing track.<br />
<br />
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?<br />
<br />
- None<br />
<br />
26. What did you want and get?<br />
<br />
- The Studentship role at work.<br />
<br />
27. What did you want and not get?<br />
<br />
- Love/relationship<br />
<br />
28. What was your favourite film of this year?<br />
<br />
- Tintin<br />
<br />
29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?<br />
<br />
-Turned 27, absolutely nothing different from a normal day<br />
<br />
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?<br />
<br />
- Love/relationship<br />
<br />
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?<br />
<br />
- Same as always, casual<br />
<br />
32. What kept you sane?<br />
<br />
- Books and Friends<br />
<br />
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?<br />
<br />
- none, they're all idiots<br />
<br />
34. What political issue stirred you the most?<br />
<br />
- Talk of mining conservation land, first time I've written a rather annoyed email to a politico <br />
<br />
35. Who did you miss?<br />
<br />
- Not so many people this year, getting used to living away from everyone<br />
<br />
36. Who was the best new person you met?<br />
<br />
- A couple of new work colleagues, excellent people<br />
<br />
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.<br />
<br />
- Hmm maybe jump at all chances, it's worth it even if you don't quite get there, though I guess I already knew that.<br />
<br />
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.<br />
<br />
- Uhm... I'll pass on this oneAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-39720659416815092802010-12-27T23:17:00.000+13:002010-12-27T23:17:48.136+13:002010Following my tradition of copying <a href="http://inthedesert23.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009.html">Katherine's New Years post</a>, here is 2010, though this time I've rather preempted her.<br />
<br />
1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?<br />
<br />
- Uhm a few technical things at work<br />
- Started playing social Touch Rugby<br />
<br />
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?<br />
<br />
- There weren't any. No, technically you could say I'm still following one from about 7 years back which was to make no more New Years resolutions<br />
<br />
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?<br />
<br />
- No<br />
<br />
4. Did anyone close to you die?<br />
<br />
- No. Never been to a funeral.<br />
<br />
5. What countries did you visit?<br />
<br />
- None unfortunately.<br />
<br />
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?<br />
<br />
- A lover or relationship deeper than a friendship, which unsurprisingly is the same as last year<br />
<br />
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched in your memory, and why?<br />
<br />
- September the 4th, not that I was in chch but family still live there.<br />
<br />
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?<br />
<br />
- Getting a better job, (for the second year in a row)<br />
<br />
9. What was your biggest failure of the year?<br />
<br />
- To be more outgoing, failure to actively seek out new people or find a relationship<br />
<br />
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?<br />
<br />
-None<br />
<br />
11. What was the best thing you bought?<br />
<br />
- Another camera I guess, either that or my cellphone both are quiet awesome, or the multitude of books I've acquired<br />
<br />
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?<br />
<br />
- No one really<br />
<br />
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?<br />
<br />
- Certain local politicos who seem to think digging up nonrenewable resources from near pristine land is a way to improve the country<br />
- The world <span style="font-style: italic;">leaders</span> as usual with regards to politics and climate change<br />
- Christian and all other overly religious and or fanatical peoples.<br />
<br />
14. Where did most of your money go?<br />
<br />
-Rent and savings<br />
<br />
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?<br />
<br />
- The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Midnight" rel="wikipedia" title="Towers of Midnight">Towers of Midnight</a><br />
<br />
- Mass Effect 2<br />
- The new camera<br />
<br />
16. What song will always remind of you of 2009?<br />
<br />
-none<br />
<br />
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:<br />
a) happier or sadder?<br />
<br />
- A bit happier I mean once again my job got better!<br />
<br />
b) fatter or thinner?<br />
<br />
- No change from last year seem to have stabilised on 70kg, hopefully a few more sports may drop that a little more, even though technically it's a perfectly healthy weight<br />
<br />
c) richer or poorer?<br />
<br />
- Richer<br />
<br />
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?<br />
<br />
- Getting to know people/make new friends<br />
- Getting out of the flat and visiting cousins, friends and family in the North Island<br />
<br />
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?<br />
<br />
-Spending money<br />
<br />
20. How did you spend Christmas?<br />
<br />
-With family in Chch<br />
<br />
21. Did you fall in love in 2009?<br />
<br />
- I wish<br />
<br />
22. What was your favourite TV programme?<br />
<br />
- Star Driver and Big Bang Theory<br />
<br />
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?<br />
<br />
- Not really, still hate stupidity, especially the religious type<br />
- oh and any one who smokes, I really really hate smokers!<br />
<br />
24. What was the best book you read?<br />
<br />
- Either 'Under Heaven', or 'The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms' oh and 'Changes' was awesome<br />
<br />
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?<br />
<br />
- Vienna Teng<br />
<br />
26. What did you want and get?<br />
<br />
- A better Job<br />
<br />
27. What did you want and not get?<br />
<br />
- Love/relationship<br />
<br />
28. What was your favourite film of this year?<br />
<br />
- Haven't seen many, none of those I saw stand out<br />
<br />
29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?<br />
<br />
-Turned 26, absolutely nothing different from a normal day<br />
<br />
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?<br />
<br />
- Love/relationship<br />
<br />
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?<br />
<br />
- Same as always, casual<br />
<br />
32. What kept you sane?<br />
<br />
- Books and Friends<br />
<br />
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?<br />
<br />
- none, they're all idiots<br />
<br />
34. What political issue stirred you the most?<br />
<br />
- Talk of mining conservation land, first time I've written a rather annoyed email to a politico <br />
<br />
35. Who did you miss?<br />
<br />
- Not so many people this year, getting used to living away from everyone<br />
<br />
36. Who was the best new person you met?<br />
<br />
- A couple of new work colleagues, excellent people<br />
<br />
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.<br />
<br />
- Hmm maybe jump at all chances, it's worth it even if you don't quite get there, though I guess I already knew that.<br />
<br />
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.<br />
<br />
- Uhm... I'll pass on this one<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=27800d6e-f541-4c93-b82c-f40631b7a5bc" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-88000457987921194492010-11-28T23:41:00.000+13:002010-11-28T23:41:04.573+13:00Rules of a Moral Life?Here are a few rules for what might be a moral life, for those who can or are willing to comprehend them.<br />
<br />
One should knowingly, do no harm to another.<br />
One should avoid doing anything that may harm another later.<br />
If one must do harm to another, one should make every effort to minimise that harm.<br />
Self harm should be discouraged, because it indirectly harms others.<br />
A lack of foresight is harmful.<br />
To violate these rules is to loose the protection of them.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately to apply these rules get complex incredibly quickly and requires a massive amount of thought.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-80460298033059454522010-09-11T23:24:00.000+12:002010-09-11T23:28:19.983+12:00The Goal of ExistanceIs knowledge, science, understanding what we are, where we are and what has and will be.<br /><br />Self knowledge is part of this, but mysticism as comfortable and fun as it may be has no part. What does it create do or contribute? What is the point of a heaven if all you do is stand around all day and worship. That'd get bloody boring rather quickly I'd hope, both for the one being worshiped and those doing so. And who cares if you might be reincarnated as a bacteria it's hardly useful to worry about that, your not going to remember.<br /><br />Instead why not seek out real knowledge, how to help others or ones self. Seek to extend your days and minimise your impact while expanding or helping to expand our knowledge.<br /><br />As in the end, all that may well remain of us is our contribution to knowledge, which should it reach the necessary levels, may end up sustaining us and allow us to remain as we seek to expand it and seek out new wonders.<br /><br />After all the universe doesn't care about you and chance ain't going to hand you a free survival card just because you believe it should. Learn and grow, expand your capabilities and knowledge and you might just manage to stay ahead of the reaper.<br /><br />But don't forget to bring the other living things with you, or you'll end up cutting your own throat with out even noticing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-39959818312962623472010-09-11T17:22:00.004+12:002010-09-11T18:05:26.065+12:00Kindle 3 in NZA few thoughts on the Kindle 3<br /><br /><ul><li>The eInk screen is amazing to read from, after reading 4 book on the device and reading until 2am in the morning there is no eyestrain unlike when I use an active display such as my netbook or cellphones.</li><li>Books load quickly after the first time, when they appear to be indexed.</li><li>The kindle store works well and with your credit card details linked to your account can be bought with only a couple of clicks.</li><li>The purchased books arrive very quickly over both wifi and 3G.</li><li>Also books purchased directly from there website arrive next time you connect the kindle to a network.</li><li>The battery life is impressive on the first charge I've read 5 or so books before getting a battery warning, should last 8 or 9 books by the time it's had a couple more charges.</li><li>Battery life is a function of page turns, so appears to decrease as you increase text size and spacing. But leaving it in suspend for a week has little or no effect.</li><li>It's highly impressive to switch the device off and have the kindle render a graphic on the display and leave there while it's 'off'.</li><li>The text is very clean and easy to read.</li><li>The device is quite small about the size of a midsized paper back and incredible light! </li><li>The size and weight make it alot easier to hold than an iPad for reading.</li><li>The refresh rate when turning pages is quite acceptable, if you hit page advance when you reach the bottom of the page it should have refreshed by the time your eye reach the top.</li><li>You can change the font, spacing and orientation of the text. </li><li>The 3G makes is easy to buy a book and start reading it pretty much anywhere.</li><li>The downside is it makes it a little too easy to buy a book that catches your eye, and with the purchase only requiring a click or two could easily get out of control.</li><li>There are a lot of free ebooks in the correct formate available from third parties such as baen, including some complete series, which helps make the device even more valuable</li></ul><br /><ul><li>The webbrowser is rather basic though usable, a 5 way pad is not the best way to browse the web.</li><li>The music player is completely basic, no gui just plays stuff in order in the background, the built in speakers are of reasonable quality.</li><li>The book reader as usual is the standard robotic voice, and won't make audio books obsolete any time soon.</li><li>The books seem to have US$2 surcharge on them to cover the cost of sending them Internationally via 3G, this applies both when buying via 3G or Wifi, which as far as data charges go is a complete rip off!</li><li>Book prices are in US$ so while the books are still cheaper than a normal priced paperback they're not incredibly so (NZ$17 for the most expensive I've bought)</li><li>While the book range is decent I've run into a number of books that are not to be sold in NZ</li></ul><br />Overall I'm very happy with the device I just wish the book prices were in NZ dollars and didn't have the US$2 surcharge!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-50755821529334517682010-07-26T15:29:00.002+12:002010-07-26T15:31:21.975+12:00I Am A: Lawful Neutral Elf WizardDang I'm sure that should be Chaotic Good, that's what I usually play after all!<br /><br /><b>I Am A:</b> Lawful Neutral Elf Wizard (3rd Level)<br /><br><br><u>Ability Scores:</u><br><br /><b>Strength-</b>11<br><br /><b>Dexterity-</b>13<br><br /><b>Constitution-</b>13<br><br /><b>Intelligence-</b>16<br><br /><b>Wisdom-</b>14<br><br /><b>Charisma-</b>12<br /><br><br><u>Alignment:</u><br><b>Lawful Neutral</b> A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.<br><br /><br><u>Race:</u><br><b>Elves</b> are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.<br /><br><br><u>Class:</u><br><b>Wizards</b> are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.<br /><br><br>Find out <a href='http://www.easydamus.com/character.html' target='mt'>What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?</a><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-31843006194975398332010-01-01T01:56:00.004+13:002010-01-01T02:30:04.808+13:002009Following my tradition of copying <a href="http://inthedesert23.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009.html">Katherine's New Years post</a>, here is 2009.<br /><br />1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?<br /><br />- Explored Northland<br />- Moved into a flat with people I know!<br />- Changed Jobs within a company<br /><br />2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?<br /><br />- There weren't any. No.<br /><br />3. Did anyone close to you give birth?<br /><br />- No<br /><br />4. Did anyone close to you die?<br /><br />- No. Never been to a funeral.<br /><br />5. What countries did you visit?<br /><br />- None unfortunately.<br /><br />6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?<br /><br />- A lover or relationship deeper than a friendship.<br /><br />7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched in your memory, and why?<br /><br />- None 2009 mostly work, and can't remember the dates of the non work stuff.<br /><br />8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?<br /><br />- Getting a better Job<br /><br />9. What was your biggest failure of the year?<br /><br />- To be more outgoing.<br /><br />10. Did you suffer illness or injury?<br /><br />-None, odd cold.<br /><br />11. What was the best thing you bought?<br /><br />-My car I guess, I mean it's a car so hardly excitingly, but unfortunately far to useful.<br /><br />12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?<br /><br />-No one really<br /><br />13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?<br /><br />-The world <span style="font-style:italic;">leaders</span> as usual with regards to politics and climate change<br />- Christian and all other overly Religious and or fanatical peoples.<br /><br />14. Where did most of your money go?<br /><br />-Rent and Car<br /><br />15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?<br /><br />- The Gathering Storm<br />- A new computer<br />- Bioware's return to there roots<br /><br />16. What song will always remind of you of 2009?<br /><br />-none<br /><br />17. Compared to this time last year, are you:<br />a) happier or sadder?<br /><br />- No change, maybe a little happier now my Job is better<br /><br />b) fatter or thinner?<br /><br />- 10% bigger, apparently I'm now nearly a health weight.<br /><br />c) richer or poorer?<br /><br />-Richer<br /><br />18. What do you wish you'd done more of?<br /><br />- Getting to know people.<br /><br />19. What do you wish you'd done less of?<br /><br />-Spent money<br /><br />20. How did you spend Christmas?<br /><br />-With Family in Chch, and house sitting<br /><br />21. Did you fall in love in 2009?<br /><br />- I wish<br /><br />22. What was your favourite TV programme?<br /><br />- Darker than Black 2, and Eden of the East<br /><br />23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?<br /><br />- Not really, still hate stupidity, especially the religious type<br />- oh and any one who smokes, really really hate smokers!<br /><br />24. What was the best book you read?<br /><br />- The Gathering Storm, now I have hope that the Wheel of Time may end well.<br /><br />25. What was your greatest musical discovery?<br /><br />- none<br /><br />26. What did you want and get?<br /><br />- A better Job<br /><br />27. What did you want and not get?<br /><br />- Love/relationship<br /><br />28. What was your favourite film of this year?<br /><br />- Sherlock Holmes? Maybe having problems remembering what else I saw this year<br /><br />29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?<br /><br />-Turned 25, and Secretly had a lot of people over for Breakfast with out most of them realising the true reason!<br /><br />30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?<br /><br />- Love<br /><br />31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?<br /><br />- Same as always<br /><br />32. What kept you sane?<br /><br />- Books and Friends<br /><br />33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?<br /><br />- none, they're all idiots<br /><br />34. What political issue stirred you the most?<br /><br />-nothing really<br /><br />35. Who did you miss?<br /><br />-Lots of people, who no longer live in the same city<br /><br />36. Who was the best new person you met?<br /><br />- One of my flatmates from my previous flat, a good bloke<br />- A couple of people at work<br /><br />37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.<br /><br />-Some times exceeding expectations is rewarded<br /><br />38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.<br /><br />- Uhm... I'll pass on this oneAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-87317118366531806782009-11-23T23:02:00.003+13:002009-11-23T23:24:24.544+13:00What is Sin, Evil...What is sin, does it exit or is it simply a social construct used to justify punishment of that which defies the social structure?<br /><br />Is sin evil?<br />Is sin the lack of foresight living/reacting to the now rather than that which is yet to come?<br />Is sin self harm? Damaging ones self or others?<br />Is sin the failure to follow the golden rule?<br />Is sin freewill, not sticking to the script or the pupet masters desires?<br /><br />As I'm not entirely sure I believe sin exists these days, I'm certain it's not some sort of metaphysical smut though it seems a lot of people believe that.<br /><br />I was wondering though if a lot of what is called sin is simply a lack of foresight the inability to see past ones current desires, and doing what satisfies the now rather than the future.<br /><br />Often I've thought that that which is human or sentience, is acting in ways beyond the now, controlling and channeling our emotions, and reactions. Channeling those immediate evolutionary triggers fight/flee, feed/reproduce in manners that are beneficial over the long term. <br />In ways that show no short term benefit and fufill no evolutionary need, but instead do or become part of something greater, progress, knowledge, science etc.<br /><br />If we are to be human we must recognise that we are and will always be animal (evolutionary constructs) as well. And our ability to overcome our genetic/evolutionary programing is what distinguishes us from our fellow animals, sometimes for better but often for worse. And that as an individual it should be our goal to overcome our natures for the better, as much as is possible.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-43514390879326454522009-11-23T10:20:00.002+13:002009-11-23T10:22:32.350+13:00Quick NoteHmm this is rather dead. A quick note for any one still following this I'll be back down in CHCH for 3 weeks starting around the 18th December. So will hopefully get a chance to catch up with most of you!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-35592029669056870702009-07-16T19:59:00.004+12:002009-07-16T20:28:51.697+12:00Kiva - Loans to the Third WorldSome of you may find this website, <a href="http://www.kiva.org/">Kiva</a> of interest. It's a mico-lending site that works with microenterprise/microfinance groups through out the world to provide loans. Effectively it allows those who are relatively well of to contribute to loans for individuals or groups though out the world who are less well off/in poverty, but still trying to make a living.<br /><br />In some ways I think this may be an improvement on traditional charities working in the micro-enterprise area. Seeing as the money is provided as a loan, it is expected the individual or group pay it back over a specified time period, effectively holding them accountable and encouraging them to make productive use of the money. Also the micro-finance groups that interact with the clients generally provide training to help support those they've made a loan to.<br /><br />Finally because you choose which groups/individuals/projects to lend money to you can decease the chance that the money is used in a manner you wouldn't approve of (ie clearing rain forest for crops). The loans are generally contributed to by a number of people, so if the loan is defaulted you've not lost a large amount.<br /><br />The site appears to work well, I contributed to a couple of loans in May and they've started pay that back now. Once they've paid my loans back I'll re-loan the money to someone else, though I could withdraw it if I needed to. In the mean time I've made a couple more loans.<br /><br />If people are interested drop a comment here, it could be fun to create a exChch/Heresy group, as the site supports the usual range of web 2.0 social features such as teams, journals, profile pages and all that jazz.<br /><br />From the website:<br /><br /><blockquote><br />We Let You Loan to the Working Poor<br /><br />Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.<br /><br />Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. </blockquote><br /><br />How it works:<br /><br /><blockquote>How Kiva Works<br />Choose an Entrepreneur, Lend, Get Repaid<br />The below diagram shows briefly how money gets from you to an entrepreneur, and back.<br /><br />1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.<br /><br />2) Kiva's microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success.<br /><br />3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.<br /><br />4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-50635596595402244352009-07-12T23:02:00.000+12:002009-07-12T23:03:51.292+12:00Science and CommunicationAlso if you wonder why the media always screws up science even in articles that are apparently written by people who under stand it have a look at these two links:<br /><br /><blockquote><br />When I submitted the article, just shy of the 800 words I was asked to write, the editor said that the published piece had to be shortened a little. A few weeks later I checked the publication and found my article reduced to 360 words. I wasn't happy, of course, but every journalist has dealt with this. However, when I began to read the piece I didn't recognize it as anything I had written. I became worried so I did a sentence by sentence comparison. To my complete horror, out of 360 words there was only one sentence in the published piece and 3 or 4 fragments of sentences I had actually written; and the article was published with my name on it!</blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/a_tale_from_the_trenches_of_sc.php"><br />A tale from the trenches of science journalism</a><br /><br />and<br /><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/one_rotten_apple.php"><br />One rotten apple</a><br /><br /><div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/e675fc0b-c39b-47ec-aba3-3da864c68700/" title="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e675fc0b-c39b-47ec-aba3-3da864c68700" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]"></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-34911263126577610882009-07-12T22:54:00.003+12:002009-07-12T23:02:49.701+12:00Science<blockquote>Science is a sublimely human activity and a central part of the best of Western culture…and of every culture on earth that aspires to be something more than a collection of dirt-grubbing subsistence breeders, propagating for the sake of propagating. It's what gives us the potential to reach beyond making do, that gives us the leisure and freedom to flower in the arts and explore the diversity of human experience. Even institutionalized religion itself is an incidental byproduct of the first clever dicks who thought to reroute the flow of a river to irrigate fields and led to centralization, urbanization, hierarchies of leadership, accounting, writing, and the whole avalanche of change that followed. It's important. </blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/unscientific_america_and_those.php">Unscientific America and those awful atheists</a> - <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/">Pharyngula</a><br /><br />Excellent statement, it's well worth reading that article!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-79219374532319622812009-06-21T11:02:00.005+12:002009-07-11T10:58:47.675+12:00Well, a Year + a monthWell looks like I've been up here a while now as the title indicates, looking at it I'm not sure if much has changed over the year or nothing much has changed.<br /><br />Lets see, new stuff<br /><br />I have a Car<br />A fair bit of new gear<br />30ish new books<br />10 or so new Computer games<br />A dozen DVDs and a few CDs<br />A different more interesting Job from when I moved up, but for the Same company and department.<br />A bigger Salary package.<br />A few new friends<br />I cook and bake regularly<br /><br />Stuff that's still the same:<br /><br />I still dress the same<br />Still miss hanging out with the whole Chch and exChch bunch (though more of them are up here now which is nice)<br />Reading and Computer games are still my primary means of wasting time<br /><br /><br />Really most of the changes are fairly minor.<br /><br />Must say it is nice to have a Job that actually requires you to think at last part of the time rather than feeling like your an organic robot. It's also nice to be doiing something that feels like and appears to actually have an impact on the company/department.<br /><br />On another note here are some photos because as usual I'm bored.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/3645391292/" title="Lichen #2 by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3648/3645391292_1664b48a66.jpg" width="500" height="336" alt="Lichen #2" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/3645356016/" title="Rose Hip #1 by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3325/3645356016_e39019be23.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Rose Hip #1" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/3643545582/" title="Monstrous Treasue by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3315/3643545582_44fe6b9857.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Monstrous Treasue" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/3642731475/" title="Winter Leaves #1 by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3314/3642731475_a622c2faca.jpg" width="500" height="336" alt="Winter Leaves #1" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/3642705981/" title="_DSC9181 by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3545/3642705981_e4000eab51.jpg" width="500" height="336" alt="_DSC9181" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/3643375146/" title="Watching by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2443/3643375146_56ec8c3c9a.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Watching" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/3622159460/" title="Walkin on Water by Falcdragon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3622159460_af91336ed9.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Walkin on Water" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-67245165691252553122009-05-24T15:25:00.002+12:002009-05-25T00:38:18.721+12:00Dangerous idiot with bogus medical advice : Pharyngula<a href="http://shar.es/aOaP">Dangerous idiot with bogus medical advice : Pharyngula</a><br /><br />Posted using <a href="http://sharethis.com/">ShareThis</a> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/6654496d-ff23-4321-8616-c51e04d0ec20/" title="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=6654496d-ff23-4321-8616-c51e04d0ec20" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-13468307873117593332009-05-18T22:19:00.001+12:002009-05-18T22:19:48.875+12:00Cruel to be kind?<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><a href='http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227081.400-are-humans-cruel-to-be-kind.html?full=true'>Are humans cruel to be kind? - life - 16 May 2009 - New Scientist</a><br/><br/><blockquote>Simply, it seems that niceness needs nastiness. Our sense of fairness and our willingness to inflict damage on one another combine to encourage contributions to the common good and deter people from cheating. Researchers call this altruistic punishment. "But at the end of the day, it's still spite," says economist Benedikt Herrmann of the University of Nottingham, UK. The benefits of this constructive spite might not be immediate, but they are real - in the long run, we all benefit more if we can ensure others in society toe the line.<br/>Our brains are certainly wired to respond positively to this constructive form of spite. Although we might lose out financially, scans show that a region called the striatum, which responds to rewarding experiences, lights up during altruistic punishment (Science, vol 305, p 1254). So, problem solved. Spite is in our own best interests and our brains reward us for it, so we should welcome it, right?<br/><br/>Not quite. The problem is that it's not only doing bad things to bad people that makes us feel good. Recent studies have shown how the striatum responds in the same way to schadenfreude, when we take a morally dubious pleasure in others' misfortunes (Science, vol 323, p 937). Adolescent boys with aggressive conduct disorder show similar brain activity when they watch a video of someone hurting another person (Biological Psychology, vol 80, p 203).<br/>...<br/><br/>Last year Karla Hoff, an economist at the World Bank who is currently working at Princeton University, and her colleagues reported the results of experiments conducted in villages in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (American Economic Review, vol 98, p 494). In these tests, two players started out with 50 rupees each. The first could choose to give his to the second, in which case the experimenters added a further 100 rupees, giving the second player 200 rupees in total. The second player could decide to keep the money for himself, or share it equally with the first player. A third player then entered the game, who could punish the second player - for each 2 rupees he was willing to spend, the second player was docked 10 rupees.<br/><br/>The results were startling. Even when the second player shared the money fairly, two-thirds of the time the newcomer decided to punish him anyway - a spiteful act with seemingly no altruistic payoff. "We asked one guy why," says Hoff. "He said he thought it was fun."<br/><br/>Hoff found that high-caste players were more likely to punish their fellow gamers spitefully than low-caste players, leading her to suggest that context is everything. It is not that people in Uttar Pradesh are nastier than elsewhere, but rather that the structure of their society makes them acutely conscious of status. The sensitivity of higher castes to their position makes them tend not to support any changes that threaten to level the social hierarchy, such as development projects. But higher castes can also put others down, safe in the knowledge that "untouchables" are unlikely to strike back. "If you're low caste it's dangerous to rise in status," says Hoff. "You'll get beaten up or worse."<br/></blockquote><br/><br/><br/>Another interesting New Scientist article, I've quoted a decent chunk of the most interesting points as I'm not sure if the article is a public one or pay to view one. Any way it's an interesting look at the mechanisms which by which a certain degree of cooperation is or needs to be inforced to keep every one playing fairly.<br/><br/><div class='zemanta-pixie'><img src='http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=a957e672-aa76-8017-a3ad-b5a0ae744463' class='zemanta-pixie-img'/></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-13796984934574545272009-05-14T20:28:00.003+12:002009-05-14T21:07:27.887+12:00Interesting - Nocebo<blockquote>The ultimate cause of the nocebo effect, however, is not neurochemistry but belief. According to Hahn, surgeons are often wary of operating on people who think they will die - <a href="http://books.apa.org/books.cfm?id=431730A" target="nsarticle">because such patients often do</a>. And the mere belief that one is susceptible to a heart attack is itself a risk factor. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1585898" target="nsarticle">One study</a> found that women who believed they are particularly prone to heart attack are nearly four times as likely to die from coronary conditions than other women with the same risk factors.</blockquote><br />Interesting if some what scary, the link between the Brain and Body and how believe and thoughts affect the body is a rather interesting one. I think I'll have to keep an eye out for more information on this.<br /><br />Any one else know of or have links to interesting research or posts related to this?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-71398399180620377332009-05-07T21:41:00.005+12:002009-05-07T22:34:33.330+12:00Return of A Lost SmeltYikes it's been a while since I last posted here, so time for an update!<br /><br />Well what have I been doing? Good question it doesn't seem like much.<br /><br />If you follow my twitter feed some of this you will be aware of, if you don't you should!<br />Click here and create an account it's not that hard! <a href="http://twitter.com/eonsim">See click on this: Eonsim@twitter</a><br />If your not currently on twitter you may be surprised by the number of people you don't otherwise hear much from floating about there.<br /><br />Any way onto the update!<br /><br />On the work front I've signed my third contract or at least the third amendment to my contract which after 10 months as Lab Technician has changed me to a Laboratory Operational Systems Technologist, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject_Matter_Expert" title="Subject Matter Expert" rel="wikipedia">Subject Matter Expert</a>, Lab Technician. As you may guess from the rather long title the position is effectively a custom one that was created just for me :-). Any way it came with a decent pay rise so I can live with the overly long title (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">hmm</span> googling it seems to indicate that it's unique to me, how fun). Any way the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">actual</span> result of this change in title is that I've moved away from doing the bog standard lab work that putting me to sleep and taken up a mix of IT work, specifically working to integrate the scientific and operational side of the laboratory into the the IT systems and making sure both sides understand each other. All fun and games, or at least <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">that's</span> what I tell my self when ever I start looking at my work load and realise that it's kinda doubled, still it least it keeps me busy and keeps me thinking, hated standing around in the lab doing work that effectively left my brain switched off all the time.<br /><br />In other stuff, have been seeing a fair bit of J&J with them having moved up to the delights of the Tron also see a lot of A&R B as one would expect. Also got to see M&K R for a bit when they stopped over for a weekend on there way up to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-36.85,174.783333333&spn=0.1,0.1&q=-36.85,174.783333333%20%28Auckland%29&t=h" title="Auckland" rel="geolocation">Auckland</a>.<br />As an interesting aside the church my self, A&R go to started to run a piece of junk called the truth project, which tries to construct a conservative Christian world view covering aspects such as science, Ethics, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">philosophy</span> and other interesting matters. Unfortunately it generally consists of the chap going with the standard conservative party line and creating lots of big logic circles with big words, while ignoring and misrepresenting a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">tonne</span> of stuff. Fortunately after each there is some discussion (thankfully or I'd have done mad by now) needless to say that as a result with A&R, Jim and my self the locals are rapidly getting exposed to a wide range of different scientific and logic/philosophy principles plus plenty of Heresy derived theology, <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">conveniently</span> the senior pastor agrees more often than disagrees, if not always with our conclusions. Which makes for some interesting discussions and probably some rather sore heads for the rest of the group.<br /><br />Apart from that I've been reading a lot, buying cheap computer games (Go http://www.gog.com), playing some of them, slowly increasing my music collection (Thrice, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Faunts</span> and Project 86 currently), and picking up more books and the odd <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime" title="Anime" rel="wikipedia"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">anime</span></a> series or movie ("<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howl%27s_Moving_Castle" title="Howl's Moving Castle" rel="wikipedia">Howl's Moving Castle</a>" Completely AWESOME!, heck even people who dislike <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">anime</span> would probably like it), and increasing my Storage (currently 2.3TB). I've also started to head along to a board games afternoon/night once a month that a friend from work (M&K W who also happen to be friends of M&K R) goes to so <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">that's</span> a fair bit of fun (spent 4hours playing "Munchkin Quest", the munchkin <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">board game</span>, lots of fun!).<br /><br />I've also made some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">intial</span> steps in seeing a few more relatives heading down to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-39.0666666667,174.083333333&spn=0.1,0.1&q=-39.0666666667,174.083333333%20%28New%20Plymouth%29&t=h" title="New Plymouth" rel="geolocation">New Plymouth</a> over <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Easter</span>. As well as catching up with a couple last weekend when a group of us (A&R B and my self) headed up to Auckland to catch up with CE who was up visiting and AR. A fun way to spend a weekend and a good time had by all as we wandered around the Auckland <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">CBD</span> and stayed the night in a penthouse suite 15<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">mins</span> walk from the water front. It's still <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">abit</span> of a surprise to realise that Auckland and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"><a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-37.6833333333,176.166666667&spn=0.1,0.1&q=-37.6833333333,176.166666667%20%28Tauranga%29&t=h" title="Tauranga" rel="geolocation">Tauranga</a></span> are both within a 1.5 hour drive of Hamilton. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Unfortunately</span> at least in the case of Auckland is having to navigate around the place, thankfully with AR and RB along at various times someone at least knew where they were going!<br /><br />Any way that's probably enough for now, if I get bored I may get around to processing a few more photos in which case you may see some stuff from Auckland, and New Plymouth!<br /><br /> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/5beb9f94-8a22-498d-af8b-0a3012047314/" title="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=5beb9f94-8a22-498d-af8b-0a3012047314" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-20519535803432164482009-03-22T23:15:00.003+13:002009-03-22T23:27:38.283+13:00Quote<blockquote>And so from nothing our universe begins.<br />In a single blinding pulse, a moment of glory much too swift and expansive for any form of words, the singularity assumes heavenly dimensions, space beyond conception.<br /><br />-- Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything</blockquote>Having decided to read a more non-fiction I've started off deciding to finish the above book. It's an awesome book and I'm greatly looking forward to finishing it this time, now that I've got a hardcopy in hand.<br /><br />I've also decided for now to read/finish off a couple of other non-fiction works, Collapse by Jared Diamond, and The Origin of the Species by Darwin (often referred to as one of the most beautifully written scientific works).<br /><br />Still I'm looking for other decent scientific or semi-scientific non-fiction so if you have any suggestions please make them!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-57686254026240118932009-03-19T19:42:00.004+13:002009-03-19T19:50:41.732+13:00The Eye of the World.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dabelbrothers.com/index.php?categoryid=16"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 540px; height: 800px;" src="http://www.dabelbrothers.com/images/WoT/WoTpage00.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dabelbrothers.com/index.php?categoryid=16"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 540px; height: 800px;" src="http://www.dabelbrothers.com/images/WoT/WoTpage03.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dragonmount.com/News/?p=434"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 540px; height: 800px;" src="http://www.dragonmount.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/issue01_cover_seamas_revised.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.dragonmount.com/News/?p=434"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 540px; height: 800px;" src="http://www.dragonmount.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/issue01-wot-saliba.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Need I say more?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-92067688090246419392009-03-12T22:07:00.002+13:002009-03-12T22:12:19.537+13:00Faunts - What I've been listening too lately.<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gISlB1IdUjI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gISlB1IdUjI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />And a few of there songs for free download.<br /><br /><fieldset class="zemanta-related"><legend class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles by Zemanta</legend><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.3hive.com/2009/02/faunts.php">Faunts</a> (3hive.com)</li></ul></fieldset> <br /><br /><div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/b4d1e789-83f7-4225-84be-82465e94c8d5/" title="Zemified by Zemanta"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=b4d1e789-83f7-4225-84be-82465e94c8d5" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-16051758720533776352009-03-03T19:19:00.001+13:002009-03-03T19:19:35.977+13:00Book recommendations?<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>For a change I'm feeling like reading some Non-fiction. Does any one have any recommendations for some decent stuff?<br/>Things along the lines of "A Short History of Nearly Everything", "Guns, Steel and Germs", or "The Origins of the Species"?<br/></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-22146003354111157502009-03-03T19:08:00.001+13:002009-03-03T19:08:19.280+13:00An interesting look at the 21st Century<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><a href='http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/02/the_21st_century_faq.html'>Charlie's Diary: The 21st century: FAQ</a><br/><br/>Another interesting post by Charles Stross, giving us a view of his thoughts on some of the stuff that could happen in the 21st Century.<br/><br/>I like his point on the unknowns, they'll be the interesting things to watch out for. The things we never expected the things where we may have seen hints of possibilities but could never imagine the applications that would result.<br/><br/>My guess would be the two fields to watch would be Genetics/Biotech/Biochemistry and communications/internet/connectivity. Rather obvious ones I admit but when our knowledge in the field of biology doubles approximately every 10 years it means theres a lot of potential for interesting stuff to turn up.<br/><br/>I find his point that the human species is becoming a predominately urban one rather interesting. And look forward to seeing what the implications of this are. Hopefully one of them will be a move to something closer to a steady state for population rather than the current high growth state. I'll also be interesting to see how this effects our technology and society.<br/><br/>Space colonization yeah I unfortunately agree with him but I'd love to be proved wrong. Two or three populations are far more resistant than one, and if a self sustaining colony can be set up even if it's a one way trip the effects it's likely to have on technology and society would be impressive.<br/><blockquote/></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378954.post-67362837447148946982009-03-02T21:00:00.000+13:002009-03-02T21:02:51.365+13:00Addicted to Pixels<a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10556419&ref=rss">Addicted to pixels - digital photography takes over the world - Technology - NZ Herald News</a><br /><blockquote>Everything we do is captured on camera - and our memories are being superseded by pixels.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />An interesting look at digital photograph, and how it is changing what photography is and how it relates to us.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04344987411651421193noreply@blogger.com0