Much Todo About Nothing.

2011

2012-01-02T19:26:00.003+13:00

Following my tradition of copying Katherine's New Years post, here is 2011, though she's managed to beat me this time.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

- Plenty of awesome technical (Sequencing) related stuff at work.
- Got to work with real Whole Genome Sequence data
- Attended a Scientific confrence
- Traveled (domestically) for work
- Found out that Cider is drinkable
- Joined a regular pub quiz team
- Went to a world cup rugby game

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?

- As always I'm still following one from about 8 years back which was to make no more New Years resolutions

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

- No

4. Did anyone close to you die?

- Still nope, thankfully

5. What countries did you visit?

- None unfortunately, though looking alot better on this front for 2012.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

- A lover or relationship deeper than a friendship, which unsurprisingly is the same as last year

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched in your memory, and why?

- Hmm Feb 22nd I guess, that's earthquakes two years in a row even though I was there for neither.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

- 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.

9. What was your biggest failure of the year?

- Same as last year probably to be more outgoing, failure to actively seek out new people or find a relationship

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

-None

11. What was the best thing you bought?

- Nothing really fills me with amazement, the tablet is cool and the books/games were interesting but that's it really

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

- A certain percentage of the worlds population involved in Arab spring and the Occupy movement.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

Same as last year I guess.

14. Where did most of your money go?

-Rent, Savings, Books and Games

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

-The PhD scholarship I guess, everything's going to change. Nervous and excited at the same time.

16. What song will always remind of you of 2011?

-none

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

- 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!

b) fatter or thinner?

- 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.

c) richer or poorer?

- Richer, pay rises + a decent job tends to result in this.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

- Getting to know people/make new friends

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

-Spending money, as always and probably spending too much time sitting around in the flat.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

-With family in Chch

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

- I wish

22. What was your favourite TV programme?

- None really this year

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

- Not really, still hate stupidity, especially the religious type
- oh and any one who smokes, I really really hate smokers!

24. What was the best book you read?

- I've read so many I'm lossing track.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

- None

26. What did you want and get?

- The Studentship role at work.

27. What did you want and not get?

- Love/relationship

28. What was your favourite film of this year?

- Tintin

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?

-Turned 27, absolutely nothing different from a normal day

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

- Love/relationship

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

- Same as always, casual

32. What kept you sane?

- Books and Friends

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

- none, they're all idiots

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

- Talk of mining conservation land, first time I've written a rather annoyed email to a politico

35. Who did you miss?

- Not so many people this year, getting used to living away from everyone

36. Who was the best new person you met?

- A couple of new work colleagues, excellent people

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

- 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.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

- Uhm... I'll pass on this one

2010

2010-12-27T23:17:00.000+13:00

Following my tradition of copying Katherine's New Years post, here is 2010, though this time I've rather preempted her.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?

- Uhm a few technical things at work
- Started playing social Touch Rugby

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?

- 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

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

- No

4. Did anyone close to you die?

- No. Never been to a funeral.

5. What countries did you visit?

- None unfortunately.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

- A lover or relationship deeper than a friendship, which unsurprisingly is the same as last year

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched in your memory, and why?

- September the 4th, not that I was in chch but family still live there.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

- Getting a better job, (for the second year in a row)

9. What was your biggest failure of the year?

- To be more outgoing, failure to actively seek out new people or find a relationship

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

-None

11. What was the best thing you bought?

- Another camera I guess, either that or my cellphone both are quiet awesome, or the multitude of books I've acquired

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

- No one really

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

- Certain local politicos who seem to think digging up nonrenewable resources from near pristine land is a way to improve the country
- The world leaders as usual with regards to politics and climate change
- Christian and all other overly religious and or fanatical peoples.

14. Where did most of your money go?

-Rent and savings

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

- The Towers of Midnight

- Mass Effect 2
- The new camera

16. What song will always remind of you of 2009?

-none

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

- A bit happier I mean once again my job got better!

b) fatter or thinner?

- 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

c) richer or poorer?

- Richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

- Getting to know people/make new friends
- Getting out of the flat and visiting cousins, friends and family in the North Island

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

-Spending money

20. How did you spend Christmas?

-With family in Chch

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

- I wish

22. What was your favourite TV programme?

- Star Driver and Big Bang Theory

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

- Not really, still hate stupidity, especially the religious type
- oh and any one who smokes, I really really hate smokers!

24. What was the best book you read?

- Either 'Under Heaven', or 'The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms' oh and 'Changes' was awesome

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

- Vienna Teng

26. What did you want and get?

- A better Job

27. What did you want and not get?

- Love/relationship

28. What was your favourite film of this year?

- Haven't seen many, none of those I saw stand out

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?

-Turned 26, absolutely nothing different from a normal day

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

- Love/relationship

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

- Same as always, casual

32. What kept you sane?

- Books and Friends

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

- none, they're all idiots

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

- Talk of mining conservation land, first time I've written a rather annoyed email to a politico

35. Who did you miss?

- Not so many people this year, getting used to living away from everyone

36. Who was the best new person you met?

- A couple of new work colleagues, excellent people

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.

- 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.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

- Uhm... I'll pass on this one

Rules of a Moral Life?

2010-11-28T23:41:00.000+13:00

Here are a few rules for what might be a moral life, for those who can or are willing to comprehend them.

One should knowingly, do no harm to another.
One should avoid doing anything that may harm another later.
If one must do harm to another, one should make every effort to minimise that harm.
Self harm should be discouraged, because it indirectly harms others.
A lack of foresight is harmful.
To violate these rules is to loose the protection of them.

Unfortunately to apply these rules get complex incredibly quickly and requires a massive amount of thought.

The Goal of Existance

2010-09-11T23:24:00.000+12:00

Is knowledge, science, understanding what we are, where we are and what has and will be.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kindle 3 in NZ

2010-09-11T17:22:00.004+12:00

A few thoughts on the Kindle 3

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.
Books load quickly after the first time, when they appear to be indexed.
The kindle store works well and with your credit card details linked to your account can be bought with only a couple of clicks.
The purchased books arrive very quickly over both wifi and 3G.
Also books purchased directly from there website arrive next time you connect the kindle to a network.
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.
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.
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'.
The text is very clean and easy to read.
The device is quite small about the size of a midsized paper back and incredible light!
The size and weight make it alot easier to hold than an iPad for reading.
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.
You can change the font, spacing and orientation of the text.
The 3G makes is easy to buy a book and start reading it pretty much anywhere.
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.
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

The webbrowser is rather basic though usable, a 5 way pad is not the best way to browse the web.
The music player is completely basic, no gui just plays stuff in order in the background, the built in speakers are of reasonable quality.
The book reader as usual is the standard robotic voice, and won't make audio books obsolete any time soon.
The books seem to have US$2 surcharge on them to cover the cost of sending them Internationally via 3G, this applies both when buying via 3G or Wifi, which as far as data charges go is a complete rip off!
Book prices are in US$ 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)
While the book range is decent I've run into a number of books that are not to be sold in NZ

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!

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Elf Wizard

2010-07-26T15:29:00.002+12:00

Dang I'm sure that should be Chaotic Good, that's what I usually play after all!

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Elf Wizard (3rd Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-13

Constitution-13

Intelligence-16

Wisdom-14

Charisma-12

Alignment:
Lawful Neutral 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.

Race:
Elves 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.

Class:
Wizards 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.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?

2009

2010-01-01T01:56:00.004+13:00

Following my tradition of copying Katherine's New Years post, here is 2009.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

- Explored Northland
- Moved into a flat with people I know!
- Changed Jobs within a company

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?

- There weren't any. No.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

- No

4. Did anyone close to you die?

- No. Never been to a funeral.

5. What countries did you visit?

- None unfortunately.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

- A lover or relationship deeper than a friendship.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched in your memory, and why?

- None 2009 mostly work, and can't remember the dates of the non work stuff.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

- Getting a better Job

9. What was your biggest failure of the year?

- To be more outgoing.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

-None, odd cold.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

-My car I guess, I mean it's a car so hardly excitingly, but unfortunately far to useful.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

-No one really

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

-The world leaders as usual with regards to politics and climate change
- Christian and all other overly Religious and or fanatical peoples.

14. Where did most of your money go?

-Rent and Car

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

- The Gathering Storm
- A new computer
- Bioware's return to there roots

16. What song will always remind of you of 2009?

-none

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?

- No change, maybe a little happier now my Job is better

b) fatter or thinner?

- 10% bigger, apparently I'm now nearly a health weight.

c) richer or poorer?

-Richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

- Getting to know people.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

-Spent money

20. How did you spend Christmas?

-With Family in Chch, and house sitting

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

- I wish

22. What was your favourite TV programme?

- Darker than Black 2, and Eden of the East

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

- Not really, still hate stupidity, especially the religious type
- oh and any one who smokes, really really hate smokers!

24. What was the best book you read?

- The Gathering Storm, now I have hope that the Wheel of Time may end well.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

- none

26. What did you want and get?

- A better Job

27. What did you want and not get?

- Love/relationship

28. What was your favourite film of this year?

- Sherlock Holmes? Maybe having problems remembering what else I saw this year

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?

-Turned 25, and Secretly had a lot of people over for Breakfast with out most of them realising the true reason!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

- Love

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

- Same as always

32. What kept you sane?

- Books and Friends

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

- none, they're all idiots

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

-nothing really

35. Who did you miss?

-Lots of people, who no longer live in the same city

36. Who was the best new person you met?

- One of my flatmates from my previous flat, a good bloke
- A couple of people at work

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

-Some times exceeding expectations is rewarded

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

- Uhm... I'll pass on this one

What is Sin, Evil...

2009-11-23T23:02:00.003+13:00

What is sin, does it exit or is it simply a social construct used to justify punishment of that which defies the social structure?

Is sin evil?
Is sin the lack of foresight living/reacting to the now rather than that which is yet to come?
Is sin self harm? Damaging ones self or others?
Is sin the failure to follow the golden rule?
Is sin freewill, not sticking to the script or the pupet masters desires?

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.

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.

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.
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.

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.

Quick Note

2009-11-23T10:20:00.002+13:00

Hmm 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!

Kiva - Loans to the Third World

2009-07-16T19:59:00.004+12:00

Some of you may find this website, Kiva 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

From the website:

We Let You Loan to the Working Poor

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

How it works:

How Kiva Works
Choose an Entrepreneur, Lend, Get Repaid
The below diagram shows briefly how money gets from you to an entrepreneur, and back.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Science and Communication

2009-07-12T23:02:00.000+12:00

Also 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:

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!

A tale from the trenches of science journalism

and

One rotten apple

Science

2009-07-12T22:54:00.003+12:00

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.

Unscientific America and those awful atheists - Pharyngula

Excellent statement, it's well worth reading that article!

Well, a Year + a month

2009-06-21T11:02:00.005+12:00

Well 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.

Lets see, new stuff

I have a Car
A fair bit of new gear
30ish new books
10 or so new Computer games
A dozen DVDs and a few CDs
A different more interesting Job from when I moved up, but for the Same company and department.
A bigger Salary package.
A few new friends
I cook and bake regularly

Stuff that's still the same:

I still dress the same
Still miss hanging out with the whole Chch and exChch bunch (though more of them are up here now which is nice)
Reading and Computer games are still my primary means of wasting time

Really most of the changes are fairly minor.

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.

On another note here are some photos because as usual I'm bored.

Dangerous idiot with bogus medical advice : Pharyngula

2009-05-24T15:25:00.002+12:00

Dangerous idiot with bogus medical advice : Pharyngula

Posted using ShareThis

Cruel to be kind?

2009-05-18T22:19:00.001+12:00

Are humans cruel to be kind? - life - 16 May 2009 - New Scientist

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.
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?

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).
...

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.

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."

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."

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.

Interesting - Nocebo

2009-05-14T20:28:00.003+12:00

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 - because such patients often do. And the mere belief that one is susceptible to a heart attack is itself a risk factor. One study 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.

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.

Any one else know of or have links to interesting research or posts related to this?

Return of A Lost Smelt

2009-05-07T21:41:00.005+12:00

Yikes it's been a while since I last posted here, so time for an update!

Well what have I been doing? Good question it doesn't seem like much.

If you follow my twitter feed some of this you will be aware of, if you don't you should!
Click here and create an account it's not that hard! See click on this: Eonsim@twitter
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.

Any way onto the update!

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, Subject Matter Expert, 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 (hmm googling it seems to indicate that it's unique to me, how fun). Any way the actual 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 that's 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.

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 Auckland.
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, philosophy 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 tonne 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, conveniently 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.

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, Faunts and Project 86 currently), and picking up more books and the odd anime series or movie ("Howl's Moving Castle" Completely AWESOME!, heck even people who dislike anime 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 that's a fair bit of fun (spent 4hours playing "Munchkin Quest", the munchkin board game, lots of fun!).

I've also made some intial steps in seeing a few more relatives heading down to New Plymouth over Easter. 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 CBD and stayed the night in a penthouse suite 15mins walk from the water front. It's still abit of a surprise to realise that Auckland and Tauranga are both within a 1.5 hour drive of Hamilton. Unfortunately 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!

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!

Quote

2009-03-22T23:15:00.003+13:00

And so from nothing our universe begins.
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.

-- Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything

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.

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).

Still I'm looking for other decent scientific or semi-scientific non-fiction so if you have any suggestions please make them!

The Eye of the World.

2009-03-19T19:42:00.004+13:00

Need I say more?

Faunts - What I've been listening too lately.

2009-03-12T22:07:00.002+13:00

And a few of there songs for free download.

Book recommendations?

2009-03-03T19:19:00.001+13:00

For a change I'm feeling like reading some Non-fiction. Does any one have any recommendations for some decent stuff?
Things along the lines of "A Short History of Nearly Everything", "Guns, Steel and Germs", or "The Origins of the Species"?

An interesting look at the 21st Century

2009-03-03T19:08:00.001+13:00

Charlie's Diary: The 21st century: FAQ

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Addicted to Pixels

2009-03-02T21:00:00.000+13:00

Addicted to pixels - digital photography takes over the world - Technology - NZ Herald News

Everything we do is captured on camera - and our memories are being superseded by pixels.

An interesting look at digital photograph, and how it is changing what photography is and how it relates to us.

I attempt to write a manual for understanding my personaility

2009-02-27T22:03:00.006+13:00

After an interesting 3 way discussion deriving from Christina's Shout vs Split culture post and how that links into dating etc. And then an interesting discussion on egos and so forth that generated some interesting questions and thoughts.

Any way ended up thinking/discussion a lot about my personality, so here are a few thoughts.

First up thinking about the underling basis or belief in my personality I'd say that for me it is:

"I'm nothing, but that won't stop me" (negative and chaotic)
While the underlying drive is a "love and desire for knowledge".
Mixed with a Darwinian idea of the survival of the fittest.

As a result I spend far to much time thinking about things and thinking about thinking. Which means I fall prey to the trap of trying to determine all possible out comes especially for social interactions.
I think I know my self quite well and can model and determine my own actions in advance, but when it comes to trying to work out what others are thinking/feeling. That while I can empathise with there emotions i.e. feel others pain physical or emotional. I have problems working out the cause and am unable to interact with out some knowledge of the cause.
I must know something or I will not act in fear of making it worse. As a result I try to work out what they're thinking but hit a problem that I don't understand or know their underling biases, unlike for my self. Thus I'm forced to start extrapolating which when combined with the underling idea of "I'm nothing" leads to such thoughts heading in negative directions, trying to plan and work out ways of dealing with everything that could go wrong or has gone wrong.

With all the extrapolation needed for this I end up being locked up mentally, frozen and unable to interact. Thankfully and I suspect the only reason I don't get depressed is the rather chaotic ability to mentally go "stuff this" and to stop thinking about it. This doesn't mean I'll act it simply means I will stop worrying about it at least for a while and stop digging my self an ever deeper mental hole which could potentially lead to depression.

As such when I aim to change my self these underling biasis and drives combine, I think I see/understand far too well the many elements that make me up and how they all interact. The result being that I have problems working out what or where I should start making changes. While at the same time there is the knowledge that I have missed something and thus this internal model of how I think, could/is wrong and thus any changes based on it may fail. It doesn't stop me from changing (after all I'm still somewhat chaotic) but it does massively slow me down and makes most changes to be very deliberate actions or spontaneous events with no apparent reason behind them.

I guess that that is the delight and curse of having a personality that finds examining it's self interesting and an intellect that is capable of allowing me to do so, along with a mixed negative and chaotic basis.

As a result I've always been my own worst critic, and that while I can be hurt to a fair degree by others opinions of me. What I think they think of me is usually worse than what they actually think of me, leading me to often be pleasantly surprised, if highly suspicious that they may be faking it.
I guess that also feeds in to those silly love languages, where my prefered one is "Quality time". This may possibly be partly because I enjoy spending time with people being a social animal (as in the scientific use of the term) and also partly becuase the more time I spend with some one, the better I can model them mentally and the more I'll be able to understand them (this increasing my knowledge, my primary drive).
Touch then comes second becuase if it is either deliberate or unconscious, there is likely some meaning behind it in that one way it's a delibrate choice while the other it is being comfortable enough that it is not something to be worried about. Still if I have any suspicion that it is being used for some other reason, a tease or joke I can't stand it.
Then all the others come because to me they're meaning less and it's far to hard to tell if there as any particular reason behind it or if it's a conscious lie or illusion on the others part.

Damn this post has ended up longer than I thought. So there you have it a fragment of a possible manual to understanding a part of my personality, and I won't go into the Darwinian aspects this time.

What I'm curious about is:

What are other peoples underling biases and primary drives? Are they like me "I'm nothing but that isn't going to stop me", just "I'm nothing", "I'm cool" or "I'm perfect" or some thing completely different.

And what about your primary drives is it "knowledge", "relationships" of one of the many other possibilities.

Please I'd love to hear from you.

After all the more I learn, the better and the more I can stick in my internal models of people :P

Oh and here is a cat picture and a sunset becuase I like these photos

New Years meme

2009-01-31T21:50:00.004+13:00

I see this is floating around, so might as well have a go at it.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

Graduated with an MSc
Got a full time Job
Moved out of home for good
Visited another country

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for the next year?
Yes seeing it's one from around 2004 I've stuck with ever since (to make no more NY resolutions).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
Australia

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
An ability to be somewhat more outgoing.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched in your memory, and why?
None

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a job and moving away from home.

9. What was your biggest failure of the year?
Uhm, no idea.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Camera
Books!
EEE PC

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Uhm no idea.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Probably a whole lot of people I've now forgotten about.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent, food, camera, eee pc, books, Games

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Nothing much.

16. What song will always remind of you of 2008?
none

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
Neither, happy to have a job, sad I don't get to see a lot of my friends as much any more.

b) fatter or thinner?
Slightly heavier though that probably means I now look underweight rather than like a walking skeleton.

c) richer or poorer?
Richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Spent time with friends.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Spend money.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With family, in Australia.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
No

22. What was your favourite TV programme?
Hmm probably Code Geass

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No

24. What was the best book you read?
The name of the Wind.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Thrice (Thanks Andrew B!)

26. What did you want and get?
A job.

27. What did you want and not get?
A awesome job, and something more than friendship (admittedly considering the lack of effort I put into that the result is not surprising)

28. What was your favourite film of this year?
Dark Knight

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?
Nothing I think, hit 24,

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A bigger pay packet

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Same as always

32. What kept you sane?
Friends and my loner tendencies

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The US election, and New Zealand Election

35. Who did you miss?
The Christchurch bunch (not that your all in Chch these days)

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Hard to say, meet a few people but don't know any one well enough yet to make some one a best.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Work sucks but at least it pays.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Don't listen to enough music for this one.

Wedding: Andrew & Ruth

2009-01-24T20:44:00.003+13:00

I've stuck a selection of the best wedding photos up at Speculum so go have a look. Also I've stuck more images up at Facebook.

Wedding: Andrew & Ruth

enjoy

Coming Soon: To A Blog Near You

2009-01-18T21:51:00.003+13:00

A feature length presentation of one wedding, in the life of a certain couple. With their numerous friends making guest appearances, in this once in a lifetime Drama!

NB: May or may not be released before our New Years special feature.

Akaroa: Photos

2009-01-15T23:40:00.004+13:00

A wider range of photos from the trip to Akaroa has now been posted on Speculum:

The Trip to Akaroa

Still working on the New Years Eve photos and the photos from my trip to Aus, be another weekend before I get them up.

A couple more previews in the mean time though.

Portraits: At Akaroa

2009-01-15T22:37:00.003+13:00

I've just stuck the first images, from the trip to Akaroa, on Speculum.

Akaroa Portraits:

Farewell, summer holidays

2009-01-04T15:04:00.004+13:00

Well on the way back to Hamilton for work. Was good to see most of you over the Christmas break. I'll stick up an image or two from New Years once I have some free time to go through them properly, though that may take a wee while as I've a lot of Photos from Australia to go through as well. Also I'm likely to pick up a few more images with the up coming wedding. I'll throw up a post here when I get around to updating speculum.
I'll also stick up a few photos from Aus here for those of you interested in such things hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

Any way greetings from wellington (for the whole hour or so I'm here.
Oh and here is a preview image from the trip to Aus:

Christmas Day: Surfers Paradise

On that note: Eee Pc and 3g for the win!

an Update, with amazingly enough no photos...

2008-11-21T22:47:00.002+13:00

Got to love 20% off sales at book stores and a Steady income. Unfortunately though six new books aren't going to last that long. 29 hours after having acquired them 2 are finished so 1270 pages read, thankfully work slows things down otherwise I'd probably have finished another one or two by now!

Anyway Hamilton's much the same as always though things have been getting decidedly warmer. The recent interest in Ginger beer has lead me to start experimenting with making my own, and the results seem reasonable though unfortunately I can't get the ginger flavour as strong as I like, still means theres plenty of experiment to do!

Work is somewhat more interesting than normal, mainly becuase there are a lot of major changes coming down the pipeline so I'm getting involved in helping sort out some aspects of that.

Have managed to visit a few places headed up to Auckland Labour weekend to visit various cousins and AR at some point (when I run out of books and computer games) I'll post a few photos from there. Also as those who're on facebook might have noticed headed over to Taurunga for an extended family gathering. It's good to catch up with Aunt's, Uncles and cousins you've not seen for years or ever before!

Apart from reading and playing around with the camera have been playing a few computer games recently, seeing this last quarter has been rather crazy for releases of good games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Clear Skies, Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Spore and soon the next NWN2 expack).

What's impressive though is to realise that in 4 weeks I'll be back in Chch for a briefly and then for a bit longer after christmas. Will be good to cya all

An interesting little tool/form of Art

2008-11-16T18:27:00.004+13:00

Found this tool today when I was looking something up Webpages as Graphs. Throw it your website address and it generates a rather pretty (if highly cpu intensive) graph of your site based on the html tags used to make it up!

Any way here is an example of what my site looks like!

What do your blogs/websites look like in it?

Yeah yeah I'm bored again...

2008-11-07T22:33:00.002+13:00

Heck next time I'm bored you might even get some landscapes of Auckland or perhaps Taurunga, if I get around to looking through them, or maybe even some cute little dogs. :-)

As usual more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/eonsimia/

And just for something different!

Please don't Vote

2008-10-28T22:28:00.001+13:00

Please don't vote

An open letter to the American populace.

Election day is coming up. That means that for months, you've been bombarded by all manner of forces encouraging you to vote.

I, on the other hand, would like to encourage you to do nothing of the sort. Quite the opposite in fact.

I'm not being sarcastic here. I'm not trying reverse psychology. What I'm saying is that I would like you to consider, seriously, the possibility of not voting in the coming election.
...

An interesting if somewhat long post, it's primarily with regards to the US election but applies equally well to our own. Any way have a read of it, as it's certainly interesting and once you've read it what do you think of it?

Do you agree or disagree and why?

Look he's bored again and the weathers nice...

2008-10-18T23:22:00.005+13:00

Not to mention the new lens.

So another week gone and spring seems to have full arrived, in that it's raining one second sunny the next. Not that different from winter come to think of it, just about 5C warmer on average.
So any way hope you enjoy the photos and as usual there are more on my flickr page.
Amazingly I even managed to get what I think is a decent photo of AB, though he'll likely disagree pointing out it can't be a good image because he is in it (and R isn't).
Any way hope spring is treating you well down there in Chch, and I look forward to seeing people at Christmas and the events that follow shortly after.

Colour

Old Metal

Old Paint

heh, feel life a drink?

2008-10-16T22:15:00.001+13:00

Does drinking alcohol shrink your brain? - CNN.com

People who drink alcohol -- even the moderate amounts that help prevent heart disease -- have a smaller brain volume than those who do not, according to a study in the Archives of Neurology

Not that you can really draw many conclusions from it but still...

Interesing article.

2008-10-12T20:13:00.001+13:00

Clinton Democrats are to blame for the credit crunch | The Spectator

Clinton Democrats are to blame for the credit crunch

Interesting little article, not sure entirely how accurate it is though and even if it is perfectly on the ball, I highly doubt it was the sole cause of the current crisis.

The Problem with the sharemarket

2008-10-12T20:09:00.006+13:00

Congrats if you manage to read the whole post I suspect it's not the easiest to do so, especially considering I didn't bother proof reading it, so effectively what your getting is a stream of thoughts, anyway with out further ado onto the actual post.

Something rather different.

I must say I'm finding the current financial crisis rather interesting and long over due. The modern sharemarkets to me have always seemed to be a crazy system, that does not create wealth but simply moves it from the unlucky and less intelligent members of Society to more intelligent and lucky members. It seems to rely on a couple of fundamental assumptions that are no longer valid, and is effectively a highly risky form of gambling that can have insanely far reaching consequences. As I see it the fundamental role of shares was to raise capital for a company allowing them to expand and grow there business, with the underlying promise that when the business had grown the company would either purchase the shares back at a somewhat high price than they issued them or offer dividends returning a small portion of there increased profit back to those who funded it. The sharemarket was then a way for those who had initial invested to pass there investments onto other groups if they needed access to the money they invested. The modern sharemarket seems entirely different though from the traditional, first companies issue ridiculous numbers of shares which they have no hope of ever buying back. These shares are then traded back and forth as traders speculate that they will be able to make money not off the company via it buying back the shares or issuing dividends but by selling those shares to people with less understanding who want to buy in to the "sharemarket" and there favorite companies, or simply the company of the moment. This leads to shares ending up with insanely inflated values which have no relationship to the companies actual ability to make a profit or distribute it to its share holders. This effectively raises the price of the shares to a point where no company can afford to buy back any significant number of it's shares, effectively ruling out one of the principle methods of a company delivering money to its shareholders. Dividends are also unpopular on as 10cents a share is nothing when you've just bought a thousand shares at a cost of $100,000 also it appears the company is frittering away it's profit rather than reinvesting it in it's self. The shareholder has just spent $100,000 on shares they're not ever going to get the money back from dividends and the company can't buy them back, so the only source of profit they can make is to sell the shares onto some other chap, to do this they want the share value to rise so they encourage the company to not pay a dividend and reinvest the money in it's self to increase it's future profit. Which will in turn increase the apparent value of there shares and allow them to offload them to some other poor sucker who can throw his money away. This effectively leads to a continuous cycle of share prices increasing.

The only way to make money off this cycle is to grab a share then sell it off when it's price increases enough but before it drops or crashes. Because when it eventually does some one has to be holding the can and as long as it's not you why would you care? After all doesn't matter to you that some chap spends his lifesavings to buy the shares off you thinking it's an investment only to have the value crash a week latter reducing his $110,000 to nothing. After all he knew the risk didn't he and the truth that the sharemarkets are a 'zero sum' game and a gamble that the majority do not understand and lose in.

Off course this doesn't even take into account things like Short selling, or naked short selling which are used by the rich and savvy to deliberately distort the market to make a quick profit. Or the whole securities market buying and selling things like mortgages.

As a quick note to those who might think that its fine enough to say all this but you've got nothing in it so shut up. I am some what effected by it due to the fact that a noticeable percentage (15% all up) of my salary goes into a superannuation scheme that has some exposure to the sharemarket. Though I did chose a cash heavy scheme based on my opinion of the sharemarket, and that I have no desire to profit of people who fail to realise that the sharemarket isn't an investment it's a gamble that they going to loss when going up against people who do it for a living!

Oh and I am aware of thing like securities, insurance, government bonds, international cash, gold, coffee, oil and food options and futures but haven't commented on then because I either like them even less than the sharemarket or don't know enough about them or what they're currently doing.

Any way what are your thoughts about the sharemarket and how are you finding this current "crisis" (or overdue price corrective action ;-P).

More photos and facebook

2008-09-25T21:04:00.001+12:00

Heh I see facebook appears to pick these posts up now. Rather useful!

Any way a couple more photos because I'm bored, and am interested to see if facebook picks them up as well!

Christmas 08

2008-09-24T21:17:00.004+12:00

Rather early but might as well mention it. I'll be back in Chch the 19th of December for the afternoon/evening then back again from the 26th December through to the 4th of Jan most likely (Christmas/Boxing Day and New Years fall excellently to maximize my holiday!). Might end up being there around a bit longer depending on what my company decides on with regards to shutting down over Christmas, seems unlikely but if they were kind enough to shut down for two weeks over Christmas I could be around till the 10th Jan.

Any way hopefully some of the Chch gang will be around in Christchurch for that period. Any one got any plans for New Years (Ok admittedly 3months before hand is probably a little too early to plan things but hey not got a lot else to do apart from work do I? ;-).

A few Photos - September

2008-09-23T19:45:00.000+12:00

A few photos recently taken.

A Good Weekend in Hamilton

2008-09-22T19:37:00.005+12:00

Well another weekend gone quite a good one all up, first it was good to see J&J for a number of hours on Friday evening, hope the rest of your trip and the flight home went well.
Then Saturday dawned perfectly leading me to head into town to pick up an item the courier was having problems delivering (which makes it about the 4th item item I've had problems with now, why can't they deliver things after 4:30?). Any way thinking it wasn't too far from the city center I walked out to the courier depo (not really that far ~5km, took a lot longer than I was expecting though, damned hill) and then headed back past the Hamilton Lake.
With perfect weather and camera this resulted in me spending about 2 hours wandering around half the lake taking photos and trying to get a feel for using the camera to photograph a mix of birds, water and vegetation (expect a number of photos as I convert them from RAW format to something people can actually view, as usual plenty more images on my Flickr and Zooomr pages). Then Sunday (weather warm but overcast) after church headed along with A&R to see WALL E, which turned out quite awesome as you may have noticed from my previous post.

Any way here's my favorite photo (at least so far) from Saturday, more to come in a bit.

Watch it!

2008-09-21T17:19:00.003+12:00

Wall E that is, a brilliant movie. I can't think of any of you who wouldn't like it. Unless you are concealing a hidden hatred for all movies or animated movies make you physical sick!
Well worth the wait for it to show up over here. Must say I kind of want to watch it again as I'm pretty sure I missed a lot of background info and a number of jokes hidden in the trash at the beginning. Also the ending sketches/animation and bit versions of the characters during the final credits are awesome!

Oh and don't mess with EVE!

Anonymous - A RL Stand Alone Complex?

2008-09-18T19:40:00.005+12:00

If you've been following the goings on on the interweb over the last few years you may have noticed the odd thing attributed to "Anonymous" an apparent online group. Which has supposedly been involved in such things as, online raids against websites, hacking peoples Myspace pages, tacking Internet Predators, Protests against Scientology, Assaulting Epilepsy forums with images that cause attacks (though some claim that it was Scientology trying to ruin the Anonymous Rep, certainly possible), defacing hiphop sites and now hacking Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account (yes the current VP on the Us Republican ticket).( for more info see links at bottom)

What is interesting about this so called group is whether or not it actually exists and what we would commonly consider to be a group or whether it is an example of a "emergent" social behavior such as the one Theorized about in the Ghost in the Shell anime serie, Stand alone complex.

The Standalone complex is a phenomenon where unrelated individuals act in a similar manner which creates an appearance of a concerted effort. As in someone mentions something or does something that attracts the attention of others. With out communicating specifically with each other, they each act in a manner consistent with that of the original suggestion or action. This creates the appearance of a concerted effort even though the individuals are unrelated, there is no leader as such and no overall plan. A better explanation can be found here Wikipedia on The Standalone Complex.

Looking at this so called group "Anonymous" with the standalone complex in mind one would seriously wonder if it is actually a group as it has been described. To a certain degree, it seems to have originated (according to wikipedia at least) in a number of online forums, imageboards and websites, where "Anonymous" is the default name assigned to any post, by a person not using a login for that website or messageboard. Thus "Anonymous" is effectively anyone and every one who can't be bothered with a login or does not use one for some reason, yet is interested enough in what ever topic that they want to contribute.
So at it's very beginning Anonymous is a "group" of completely unrelated people who share common interests, yet for the most part never meet and do not communicate on a personal level. Is this even a group as such?
So any way you eventually end up with a "group" of people who utilise "Anonymous" as an identify, and some people do some stuff and then leave a message stating that they the group "Anonymous" were responsible.

So effectively we have a defined group with no specific "membership", no real leaders (though sub groups with in the so called "Anonymous" metagroup may), and no particular plan, managing to do stuff and having other stuff attributed to them. The stuff they've done is quite varied though it can kind of be split up into a couple of areas, Hacking and Protest/vigilante stuff.

What is kind of cool I guess is we have an apparent group that does stuff, and has stuff attributed to it when for all intents and purposes it doesn't exist, and is likely to be a simply a variety of people acting with common goals, with out a leader and with out specific plans.
Yet it is capable, or at least people are willing to assign it blame or responsibility for a range of impressive actions, some with potentially far reaching effects. A group which may or may not exist yet has/is being investigated by TV journalists, by the FBI and Secret Service...

The protests that were affiliated with it against Scientology were it's most interesting action so far and were rather impressive, have a look at the links to images at the bottom of the post, and have a read of there statement (bottom of the page) or watch the video of it. The most recent accredited action hacking the emails of the Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin (Wired on Anoynmous hacking Sarah Palins emails.) is very interesting and has potentially far reaching consequences, considering the election is soonish and it appears that she may have been using her personal email for government business. Some people seem to think this may have been an attempt to aviod the US information discolsure laws with regards to email, if so and should there be much of interest in the hacked data it could have a significant effect on the election.

Any way I'm rambling somewhat so here is a question:
What do you think of the "group" such as it is and it's apparent actions, and do you think it's an example of a standalone complex/emergent behavior?

Links

Anoynmous Declaration against Scientology

Hello, Scientology. We are Anonymous.

Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation; suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who trust you, who call you leader, has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind--for the laughs--we shall expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form. We acknowledge you as a serious opponent, and we are prepared for a long, long campaign. You will not prevail forever against the angry masses of the body politic. Your methods, hypocrisy, and the artlessness of your organization have sounded its death knell.

You cannot hide; we are everywhere.

We cannot die; we are forever. We're getting bigger every day--and solely by the force of our ideas, malicious and hostile as they often are. If you want another name for your opponent, then call us Legion, for we are many.

Yet for all that we are not as monstrous as you are; still our methods are a parallel to your own. Doubtless you will use the Anon's actions as an example of the persecution you have so long warned your followers would come; this is acceptable. In fact, it is encouraged. We are your SPs.

Gradually as we merge our pulse with that of your "Church", the suppression of your followers will become increasingly difficult to maintain. Believers will wake, and see that salvation has no price. They will know that the stress, the frustration that they feel is not something that may be blamed upon Anonymous. No--they will see that it stems from a source far closer to each. Yes, we are SPs. But the sum of suppression we could ever muster is eclipsed by that of the RTC.

Knowledge is free.

We are Anonymous.

We are Legion.

We do not forgive.

We do not forget.

Expect us.

Congrats if you made sense of this post...

Nice Weather = Photos

2008-08-29T17:22:00.004+12:00

We've amazingly had a week of decent weather up here so got a chance to head out with Camera + new lens and take a few photos.
As usual theres more images at the flickr page.

Update + photos

2008-08-23T20:34:00.005+12:00

Finally got my primary laptop repaired and so have had a chance to edit some photos taken over the last couple of weekends.

It's surprising to realize I've been up here about one week off three months. Church wise I've been wandering along to the nearby baptist, seeing it's only a 5min walk, unfortunately it doesn't have alot of people in there 20's going there, though the few who are are friendly enough. Work wise it's far to easy and fairly boring, still it pays and after I've gathered some experience I can start looking for more interesting positions. Have been biking too and from work, seeing it's about 5km a little too far to walk especially in Hamilton where it seems to be nearly constantly raining. I don't think I've yet to manage to get to and from work for a week with out getting wet, it's blasted depressing!
I am hoping to get back down to Chch for a while over Christmas/New Years, will have to see though, as the department I'm in doesn't always shut down for long, if theres plenty of work, or may join the family in heading over to Aus for a week around Christmas.
The company is currently running a Health and Wellfare program where those interested were provided with pedometers and formed teams which then record how many steps every one makes in a week and the resulting value is used in a virtual race around the country. Currently the team I'm in is coming about 5th though hopefully that will improve. My weekly step counts have climbed from ~62,000 through 70,000 and should hopefully hit around 80,000 this week, and will hopefully increase to about 90,000 a week as I start heading along to the local Akidio dojo.
Noting that my step is approximately 1 meter it appears I'm doing an equivalent of about 60km+ a week (actually cover a greater distance but cycling gets converted to 1000 per 10mins, which is a lot lower than it would be if I walked to work ~10,000 a day).

Any way hope people are having fun down in Chch and were ever else you currently might be in the world, and that you can make some sense of this rather chaotic post. Hopefully I'll see some of you later this year, how ever in the mean time here are some photos that hopefully aren't too bad. The first three are from a trip to the Hamilton Gardens, while the second two are from playing around in my backyard with a new lens just after dusk. Feel free to leave comments about stuff! :-)

Japanese Garden

Arches in the Italian Garden.

Italian Garden

Cards and Books

2008-08-16T14:39:00.006+12:00

I seem to be acquiring cards that I need to stick in my wallet at a rather fast rate:
Dymocks, Real Groovy, Christchurch Library (Quiet don't mention I don't, live there any more), Hamilton Library, ACC, DCI, BusIT!, One card, LIC Security(Though this one needs to be on my belt not wallet) as well as the usual Drivers, Eftpos, Credit etc
All in all it's far to many bits of somewhat useful plastic and Cardboard.

Other bad news :-P is that regular pay + bookstores is a bad mix if one wants to save as much money as possible, Gaming stores don't help either but at least there It's things I want that aren't out yet rather than a couple of hundred books I want that are either instore or can be delivered in a week.

Still some good books, "Toll the Hounds" (Steven Erikson) and "Red Seas Under Red Skies" (Scott Lynch) soon to be joined by "The Lies of Locke Lamora" (Scott Lynch), "Inda", "Fox" and "King's Shield" (Sherwood Smith).

Cooking == Intelligence?

2008-08-13T18:43:00.003+12:00

For those of you interested in the Raw Food movement you may find these articles of interest.
Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

Metabolic changes in schizophrenia and human brain evolution

The Raw Food Diet: A Raw Deal

The first two (the Second is a paper I'll read properly late and likely comment on a bit more then) suggest that there may have been a link between the discovery of Cooking and the development of Human intelligence as it made more energy available for use by the brain.
The Second has a quick look at the Raw food diet and points out a couple of problems with it. When considered together it makes for an interesting look at human cognition and the possible effects that changes in diet can have.

Synaesthesia - Hearing music, seeing sounds,

2008-08-10T22:40:00.000+12:00

Synaesthesia - Hearing music, seeing sounds, Justin Lassen continues to create digital musical art,
in collaboration with the community.

Rather cool!

Some Awesome Olympics Photos

2008-08-09T17:38:00.002+12:00

A few awesome photos taken during the Olympics open ceremony! They're awesome! Overall I thought the ceremony was decent and had some bits of brilliance but didn't quite have the same overall impact as the Athens opening.

Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony

'Virophage' suggests viruses are alive

2008-08-07T17:16:00.002+12:00

Most of you who have ever studied Biology at any level are probably somewhat aware of the debate on with regards to whether viruses are living or not. In a tangentially related bit of news that provides some slight support for the "they are alive" argument scientists have recently discovered a virus which effectively infects another virus :-). For more details have a look at the link.

Virophage

A few pics

2008-07-30T17:59:00.002+12:00

A few Images from a weekend spent at Waihi Beach. All from the Sunday as Saturday was when the storm hit.

Free Ebooks, Wallpapers

2008-07-21T21:50:00.001+12:00

Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / Freebies Bonanza

Tor (a big American SF publisher) are allowing free download of a number of there ebooks until the 27th July. They've also stuck up wallpaper versions of a cover art from a variety of of books and older SF mags.
It's well worth a look for some good wall paper and some good reading material.

Dragon Age!

2008-07-15T21:03:00.001+12:00

BioWare : Dragon Age : Home

Dragon Age is looking awesome from the early screenshots and videos released, the website has some info as well these days so if you like RPG's have a look at it!

IT consumerization

2008-07-07T21:52:00.001+12:00

Analysis: IT consumerization and the future of work

An interesting article hypothesizing that consumers are replacing Enterprise and Governments as the main driver for modern computer technology with a suggestion that this could eventually lead to BYO computer workplaces, as companies struggle to keep up with the rapidly changing and diversifying software and hardware ecosystem.

What do you people think? Or are you already there (Matt?)?

Playing about with Photography

2008-06-29T16:49:00.006+12:00

Finally some finer weather allowing me to play a bit with a recent purchase. Nothing amazing just getting used to all the options that are now available, and the higher image quality.

Update2: Apparently the images only look bad when I viewing them from Windows Vista. Still rather than put them back up I'm sticking up a couple of other more recent ones I prefer more!

Yeah so...

2008-06-27T19:49:00.003+12:00

4 Weeks, kinda surprising to realise I've now been working full time for 4 weeks up here and that in a couple of days I'll have spent my first full month up here. Hamilton's winter seems to finely have hit if you call ~14c and rain winter, it seems to have an annoying habit of switching between sunshine and rainstorms at a rapid pace. There will be a gap in the clouds for 15mins with plenty of sunshine every where and then boom, it's pouring like crazy and will continue to do so for 30-40mins before you get another bunch of sunshine for 15-30mins, repeat ad infinitum. Makes for annoying biking weather when you live a 20-30min ride away from work, which means you end up wearing wet weather gear while biking home directly into the blazing sun.

Have also moved into a flat, it's a bit of a student flat, 3 other christian guys 20-21 which takes some adjusting too (they all go to a New life style church as well), it's about 4k's closer to work than where I was boarding which is nice cutting, 15mins or so off my bike to work. Should be a reasonable place to stay until around Christmas/NY at which point I should hopefully have gotten to know a few people and can look at finding a better flat.

Work is okay, hardly the most exciting job but that's to be expected for a testing lab, hopefully at some point I'll be able to work on some of the R&D stuff they do there as well as the standard testing stuff. Apparently things will get a little crazy once the calving season starts off and every second farmer wants us to test his calves. The people are interesting, in the group where I work they're mainly gals, 4 or 5 guys in a team of ~24.

Apart from work not been doing a lot, hung out with Brehaut a bit (his flat is a few min walk away), seen Ruth once, read a book or two, watched anime, and SF (brehaut's flatmates hold a SciFi night during the week which is rather awesome!) and played a fair bit of Mass Effect. Also tried playing around with a recent acquisition (a new camera), but Hamilton's apparent idea of a winter has put a dampener on that, quite literally. Have visited a few churches, (1 bapo, Flatmates, and a Brethen (by far the best)) still got to visit B&R's church and the local baptist which is hopefully better than the previous one I looked at. Which was very excited about contributing ~18% of it's budget to missions, which is rather pathetic compared to Westchurch's 70%+ to missions/community, still I may be doing them a disservice possibly they contribute more to local community stuff. Of course seeing I'm not exactly sure that missions, is what we should really be spending money on rather than actively helping people, I'm not sure why it annoyed me so much. Other than possibly I think that missions spending is a sign of a health church that has a decent focus rather than one that's more interested in a big building etc.

Any way if you made sense of all that and are still reading I'm impressed, not sure when I'll next be back in Chch, maybe Christmas/NY depending on what my parents are doing. In the mean time though I'm planning to visit Auckland, New Plymouth and Tauranga to see relatives, though the lack of long weekends in the second half of the year is rather annoying!

Any way hope your all doing well.

The extra bar is so worth it!

2008-06-09T21:37:00.001+12:00

And my arm likes it a lot more!

Hamilton, Photos

2008-06-06T23:24:00.002+12:00

A few pics from the Hamilton Gardens. Visited them a couple of times as they're on my route to work, though I've not managed to explorer them properly yet. In other news I've finished my first week and moved from a 10month contract to a permanent one, and had my first bike tire puncture 5 days after starting biking, blasted annoying especially seeing I didn't have a single puncture in 6 years in Chch! Work is fairly interesting lots to learn, though undoubtedly it may start getting a bit repetitive once I've got must of the stuff memorized. Planning to spend a bit of time exploring the city this weekend which should be fun/interesting.

Altar?

Red Tree's.

The River

Well...

2008-06-02T15:36:00.001+12:00

I'm in Hamilton, arrived 1:35pm on Sunday after getting stuck in a holding pattern for 35mins, due to fog.
Was given a quick tikky tour of the CBD and the route to work that afternoon, Monday was spent getting a bike, bus cards, maps, biking back to where I'm staying etc. Then biking out to the work site and back again to determine how long it would take, on a quite road looks to be 25-30mins may be a bit slower on a work day...
Both bike trips took little detoures to look first at the lake and later at the river and gardens. Some quite pretty bits in the sections of the garden I looked at, unfortuantely my camera seems to have died so no photos (still I was planning on buying a new one any way so will just have to do it a bit more quickly now).

Any way based on what I've seen of Hamilton so far seems to be an odd place compared to Chch, Napier/Hastings etc the city appears to be built a hilly section of a highland, with the river running in it's own little gorge through the city.

Quote: You do not exist!

2008-05-31T16:05:00.001+12:00

A Quote from the God Delusion

Steve Grand points out that you and
I are more like waves than permanent 'things'. He invites his reader
to think . . .

. . . of an experience from your childhood. Something you
remember clearly, something you can see, feel, maybe even
smell, as if you were really there. After all, you really were
there at the time, weren't you? How else would you
remember it? But here is the bombshell: you weren't there.
Not a single atom that is in your body today was there
when that event took place . . . Matter flows from place
to place and momentarily comes together to be you.
Whatever you are, therefore, you are not the stuff of
which you are made. If that doesn't make the hair stand
up on the back of your neck, read it again until it does,
because it is important.

I've read some SF where stuff like this has been mentioned a little in passing but never as clearly put! A really fun idea to consider that to a certain degree is correct. While some parts of the body are still there many are no longer and have been swapped out to the environment. This means that to a certain degree your simply a traveling informational lifeform that has conveniently managed to piggy back it's self on to a clump of matter that it then rearranges according to a set of rules. :-) Like software in a certain manner you do not physically exist!

Mara Triangle Wildlife Park Africa Blog/Photos

2008-05-27T23:16:00.001+12:00

Mara Triangle
A blog run by a Ranger in one of the African wildlife parks, some lovely photos and an interesting insight into the sorts of things that go own in the wildlife parks, and the animals that inhabit them.

The flickr photostream associated with the blog can be found here.
Kimojuno's Photostream A nice collection of animal photos.

An example of some of the photos!

Cheetah AND Hyaena face off
Originally uploaded by Kimojino

Cost of the Occupation of Iraq

2008-05-26T23:25:00.001+12:00

Charlie's Diary: Alternative boondoggles

The direct cost to the US government of the war and occupation of Iraq — counting only funds appropriated by Congress — so far runs to roughly $523Bn.

A look at the money that's been spent on the occupation of Iraq and a look at alternative things that could have been done with such an insanely large amount of money!

Neurotech

2008-05-25T02:03:00.001+12:00

A brief look at the growing Neurotechnology industry, more focused on the economic side than the science but still of interest. Worth reading if your interesting in drugs targeting the brain as both cures and boosters.

Analysis of Neurotech Industry - National Business News - Portfolio.com

The neurotech industry is engaged in a $2 trillion race to fix your brain. Many players will fail, but the payoff will be huge for those who succeed.

For those using Valerian...

2008-05-25T01:53:00.001+12:00

This may be of interest it's the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) fact sheet for the herb. Probably well worth a look if you are or are considering using it.
Valerian Fact Sheet (NIH)

Snow Crash

2008-05-18T14:48:00.001+12:00

If you've not read it you should, It's a cyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. It plays around with a lot of interesting ideas related to linguistics, informational and biological viruses, Sumerian mythology, the rise of civilization and Christianity or Religion. While it's a work of fiction the ideas utilised and the real world implications of some of the ideas are a fascinating alternate view of Civilisation and Religion.

Any way Snow Crash is well worth reading and I'd highly recommend it to those who find such ideas interesting!

To quote:

2008-05-14T22:28:00.001+12:00

Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel:

I repeat for all prospective despots, kings, saviors, democratic freedom fighters, and the like: Frequent rummage sales . You never know but you might pick up the secret of universal domination at one, and at a sweet price.

For Fun

2008-05-12T22:39:00.002+12:00

God Delusion Again

2008-05-10T15:59:00.001+12:00

Yes yes, of course the troubles in Northern Ireland are political. There really has been economic and political oppression of one group by another, and it goes back centuries. There really are genuine grievances and injustices, and these seem to have little to do with religion; except that - and this is important and widely overlooked - without religion there would be no labels by which to decide whom to oppress and whom to avenge.

Does any one else think this is a load of bollocks? They simply would have come up with a new label of some form or another.

Any way apart from that I thought the sections on memes, the origins of religion, religion as a by product and cargo cults to be interesting and well written. Possibly because these sections had more of an academic or scientific focus rather than being directly part of the authors argument against religion, and as a result somewhat more factual rather than heavily opinionated unlike many of his other sections.

Aging: Lifestyle or Genes?

2008-05-10T00:59:00.002+12:00

An interesting article looking at the recent aging research, well worth a read if your interesting in Science, Biology, Aging etc.

Lifestyle or Genes? The Health Secrets of a 114-Year Old Man

Evolution Controversial?

2008-05-08T14:29:00.001+12:00

Evolution: what's the real controversy?
An interesting article covering some of the topics that are supposed to be controversial in evolution. It's mainly focused on what the US Intelligent Design lobby has been trying to use in there effects to alter how biology is taught in US schools.

Worth a read if your interested in ID or Evolution.

OO.org 3.0beta

2008-05-08T14:22:00.001+12:00

First look: OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta a big step forward
Finally native OSX support for those of you utilizing that system, so no more need for X11.

Platypus Genome

2008-05-08T14:19:00.002+12:00

Platypus genome as distinctive as its owner

An interesting animal with an interesting genome.

Iron Man

2008-05-06T14:48:00.001+12:00

Any one interested in going to see the Iron Man movie sometime this week/weekend?

Peak Water

2008-04-27T13:50:00.001+12:00

Peak Water: Aquifers and Rivers Are Running Dry. How Three Regions Are Coping

That the news is familiar makes it no less alarming: 1.1 billion people, about one-sixth of the world's population, lack access to safe drinking water. Aquifers under Beijing, Delhi, Bangkok, and dozens of other rapidly growing urban areas are drying up. The rivers Ganges, Jordan, Nile, and Yangtze — all dwindle to a trickle for much of the year. In the former Soviet Union, the Aral Sea has shrunk to a quarter of its former size, leaving behind a salt-crusted waste.

Between black and white: the state of grayware on the PC

2008-04-25T15:34:00.000+12:00

The state of Greyware on the PC

EEE PC any one?

2008-04-25T13:39:00.002+12:00

Looks like Dicksmith is selling some of their linux ones off at $495 this weekend.

Mind Enhancing Drugs and Software

2008-04-24T23:04:00.007+12:00

Two interesting articles in a similar field from wired.com this time.

First up and the less likely to be controversial of the two is "Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm", it's a fascinating read, so if you've got some spare time have a look at it.
The article covers supermeamo a memory enhancement software package and it's creator. A software package that utilises research on optimal memorisation strategies to provide a system that can boost your ability to memorise material. The system apparently works by determining the optimal periods at which to refresh the material you want to memorise. It then sticks up a reminder with the info at the point were you should be just starting forget the information. Seeing apparently if the optimal time is targeted regularly the average time between needing a reminder increases and the quicker it gets committed to "longterm" memory. If it works, it sounds like a rather useful system for extending/increasing your ability to memorise material in an optimal manner. The second part of the article looks at the creator of the algorithms used, a man who's so convinced about the software that he allows it to run his life, choosing what he wants prioritised and then letting the software, take what he wants to read and learn and sticking it into this system.
The writer makes some interesting comments that the future of computer boosted IQ for humans, may not be using the computer to store the information for you but instead using them to optimise the manner in which you learn it. The software is available commercial for windows and is apparently considered brilliant for learning languages, free alternatives that use slightly different algorithms are available for both windows and Linux.

Secondly we move on to an article on Brain-Enhancing Drug Regimens where people are using mind enhancing drugs, originally designed to help with sleeping "disorders", ADHD and other disorders to boost their mental performance for work, tests and assignments. The article provides a brief overview and then dives into examples of drug regimens used by readers of the magazine in their daily life. The Drugs act to promote alertness, and boost the users focus, ability to ignore distractions and rate of memorisation. What is also interesting is that the US department of defense is funding research into such drugs for a variety of uses by military personnel.

Together both articles are rather interesting look at the field of human mental self experimentation, as people try to boost there mental rather than physical capabilities with various strategies and drugs. I suspect such things will increase as we move further and further into an information saturated society. One where we are permanently connected to various information sources and our friends and colleagues, and have to deal with the associated information overload. Seeing we've done pretty well so far considering we're a group of evolved hunter gather scavengers, who are an increasingly long way away from the plains and deserts that we spent millions of years wondering and that our minds and bodies were "optimised" (yeah, yeah I know Evolution and optimisation don't go together but give me a break, you know what I mean) for.

Give Your Intellect a Boost — Just Say Yes to Doing the Right Drugs!
Now if you've read the second article have a look at this quick page, which lists a varity of the drugs, their effects, side effects and possible modes of action.

Any way what do you people think, would you be interested or consider utilising either system? Or do you consider such systems to either not work or to be actively dangerous to ones health?

Is the Wii a Toy or a Gaming System?

2008-04-24T13:48:00.003+12:00

A VERY interesting interview with the heads of Bioware (you know the company responsible for a few small games like, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic etc).

Interview: BioWare On Narrative, Wii Gaming, Mainstream Press, MMOs & More

It's well worth reading, they discuss such things as is the Wii a gaming platform or a toy platform, and what the differences between those are, along with the various other things mentioned in the title.

I think I'd agree with the view that at the moment the Wii is more of a toy than a gaming system in that do you play the gmae for the game (storyline etc) or do you play with it to have fun with your friends?

Sound and Fury, Signifying ...?

2008-04-24T13:14:00.005+12:00

An interesting little article by the SF Author Richard K Morgan, on the angst and some of the other issues in SF & Fantasy. It was written as a guest editorial for an SF anthology, but was never used as consider somewhat too negative. Any way he's decided to stick it up on his website and it's an interesting read and those of you interested in SF & Fantasy or writing little bits may find it worth reading.

Sound and Fury, Signifying ...?

...
Here's a quote:

"[T]hey're really a bunch of self-righteous condescending arrogant little pricks who are more than happy to ignore history and scientific facts when it suites [sic] them ... a bunch of goddammed fucking militant, humorless, and annoying asshats for whom beatings are way too good."
...
Trawl back through the short history of SF and you can see the exact same bitching and lekking oneupmanship set loose time and time again. New Wave writers lambast and laugh at their predecessors from the so-called Golden Age. Individual authors ally or square up to each other with ludicrous intensity. Lots of furious lit. crit. goes flying this way and that. Splat! Pow! Blood on the dancefloor. Oh, but the times, they are a-changing -- here comes the hard-SF revival to "take back" the genre, to barricade themselves in the genre cabin with their technophilic faith and new frontier spirit and hold off the weirdos for a while. Then cyberpunk kicks down the door all over again, proclaims itself dangerous and subversive (but over here, in this corner, some New Wave purists scoff).
...

The God Delusion Ch 2-4

2008-04-23T16:22:00.003+12:00

A few more thoughts from my sporadic (in time rather than order) read through the book. This time it's less of a comment and more a few pet hates.

Darwinian Consciousness Rising

The first one I can't stand is Dawkins use of the idea/term "Darwinian Consciousness rising" and it's variants. Where, he appears to assume a correct understanding and agreement with Darwinian evolution some how gives you this amazing new "Super" mindset (or at least that's the way it appears based on how he uses it in his book). It's almost as if understanding Darwinian evolution is enough to somehow raise your level of consciousness to a step above the majority of humanity (and especially religious people...). A view I highly disagree with. An understanding of evolution may help make considering some ideas easier, as it provides you with a language and framework within which to work, however it does not raise or place you in some elevated mindset. I personally suspect that he's taken a certain type of mindset that handles such scientific and abstract ideas well, and is able to link them to physical reality then, at least in my reading of his use of the term, seemed to suggest that one of the ideas that such a mindset might produce, evolution, is responsible for creating the mindset.

Simplicity

Another thing that annoys me is his discussion of simplicity and why it makes the concept of God impossibly improbable. He decides to contrast this to multiuniverse/metauniverse (or my preference to hijack cosmos, and push it's definition out to include every thing that can or might exist) theory (both parallel and serial theories). The multiverse theory he then declares to be simple, because theoretically if it does exist it could theoretically be derived from a "few" "simple" laws and a form of cosmic evolution. God he then declares is obviously, and could only be, irreversibly complex (thus theoretically failing some cosmic form of KISS/Occam's Razor). Seeing as he's already explained previously in the book, complex things don't just come into existence, and evolution is the only currently known way to for a simple system to increase in complexity (non-chaotic complexity obviously). So while he's quite happy to take a theory that explains an increase in complexity in a biological system, and possibly a means of converting nonliving inorganic to living organics and apply it to the development of a "simple" multiverse/metaverse, he is not even at all willing to trying think of anything outside the box for how a "God" like being might come into existence. Instead he's quite happy to stay inside the box described God by traditional religious views...

(What if "God" is an evolved pan/metaverse Intelligence? An intelligence with an interest in other intelligences, sure it leaves a problem with communication and a few other things but hey least we're now also thinking out side the box...)

Underlying fear?

One vibe I'm starting to pick up more and more through out the book seems to be that part of his dislike for religion and a possible reason for his rather aggressive view point is that idea that Religion and Faith, kill Science and Reason. He appears to hate the viewpoint that goes "ohh I don't understand that, so obviously it's God at work, so I don't need to study that!", something I can completely understand such a view is naive, annoying and foolish, and is undoubtedly present in many Christian groups. However I fail to see how converting the world to Atheism would help with eradicating that mindset. Instead I suspect the reason given would simply change from "God at work" to "It's boring", "It's irrelevant", "Why should I care", "it's too much work" and similar. Such a mindset is not a religious mindset, it's a very common human mindset, that is present in the vast majority of the population (Try explaining just about any research that doesn't have instant gratification to most people and you'll see how quickly they lose interest (unless they're trying to be polite for some reason)).

Religion is Bad, It's just bad

Nothing specific in the book has really bought this thought to mind (except maybe a couple of bits in the first chapter, and the "feel" of some sections). But the first part of this comes to mind now and then when reading the book:

Religion is bad, because religious people do bad things in it's name.

Which brings to mind the similar:

Science is bad, because people use it to do bad things.

So there you go a few thoughts after finishing chapter 4.

Hmm 400th post, yawn :-P.

Got to Love it...

2008-04-17T17:14:00.005+12:00

When older windows games run better on Linux via WINE than they do in Vista (and XP to a certain degree).
BG, BGII, IWD, IWD2, PST I choose you!

Any way time for some IWD2 Heart of Fury Mode, where level 1 Goblins have 40 health, do 200% more damage, and can wipe out your entire party of level 1 characters with out even lossing half there HP, if your not careful.

Amazing I even remebered to save my party from the last time I played ~1 year ago, heck I might even finish the game this time if I'm not careful. Go you level 26 Party!

The God Delusion Chapter 1

2008-04-14T13:59:00.003+12:00

A few thoughts after having read the first chapter of the God Delusion.

His comments on the undeserved respect the religions seem to get, I certainly agree with for the most part. I think most religions expect this when they don't really deserve it, sure they've all done some stuff that's deserving of respect and continue to do so. However nothing they may have or will do qualifies them for some sort of exalted pedestal, from which they can stand and hurl abuse down at others with out receiving it back. And nothing pardons killing or threaten others who ignore or reject elements of your religion.

The bit on theist and deist was interesting and using those definitions It would seem likely I'm somewhere between the two. ;-)

His initial comments on a world with out religion and how it would or might be lacking things such as the crusades, 9/11, Irish troubles and many other "nasty" things I highly disagree with. It's a shallow statement that completely ignores reality and provides no argument at all. Skipping a head a bit I see he mentions some more on this so hopefully he'll actually make some sort of argument or two rather listing a whole lot of nasty stuff then saying it's all religiously motivated.

Highly enjoyed the bits on Einstein and various other scientists "God" and the wonder of nature. This quoted quote especially:

Carl Sagan, in Pale Blue Dot, wrote:
How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.' A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.

HP2133, compeition for the eeepc

2008-04-09T02:47:00.001+12:00

HP 2133 Mini-Note Review

HP 2133 Mini-Note Review
Just when you thought you'd never find the perfect small form factor notebook for less than $1,000, HP comes to the table with the all new 2133 Mini-Note. This ultra mobile subnotebook features an impressive 8.9-inch screen, a remarkably large keyboard, a full-sized notebook hard drive, and plenty of impressive specs. Is this the perfect road warrior machine? Let's take a closer look and find out.

So the eeepc finally has some serious and somewhat more expensive compeition, certainly a nice looking laptop though it's a pitty that the CPU seems even more underpowered than expected. Will be interesting to see if they upgrade it to the new via cpu that's coming out soon, seeing apparently it's pin compatible but offers similar preformance to a core 2 duo. Will all so be interesting to see if some one picks it up to sell in NZ and what the local price will be.

One advantage at least and a mini RANT

2008-04-08T15:33:00.007+12:00

Well there's at least one advantage to having nothing to do while looking for a Job, it leaves you with plenty of time to make nice stuff for lunch. Hmm homemade minipizza.

On a completely different note I'd like to say Apple's "Software Update for Windows" is a piece of annoying crap, it sticks a large window right in the middle of your screen, it provides no obvious way to disable it, it wants to download the full version of the program it's trying to update rather than a delta and finally it trys to install by default Safari, an entire new application as an update which is simply WRONG!
Windows update is by comparison is amazingly good it uses a tiny icon in the system tray, it only auto selects updates for you existing software (new stuff is not selected by default) it generally updates with delta's (or subcomponents) and it is highly configurable you can decide when and how often it runs and what it does each time.

Exciting Times...

2008-04-01T22:29:00.000+13:00

Project Virgle

YouTube - projectvirgle's Channel

Google and Virgin announce there plan to colonise Mars :)

The Register on IBM's VirtualHuman Project

And many many others if you look carefully.

It's that day again ...

2008-04-01T14:09:00.001+13:00

Where you need to check the local time for anything you read on the internet in the next ~24 hours.

Cocaine Destroys the Environment, Caffeine Saves it.

2008-03-31T15:47:00.001+13:00

Snort coke, shaft the environment, say boffins | The Register

Interesting :-)

MacBook Air Parody

2008-03-30T02:13:00.001+13:00

Rather amusing :-)

Study = Language not Facts

2008-03-24T12:13:00.002+13:00

Study is not important for the facts it teaches you, what it is important for is that it provides you with a language and framework you can use to think about what you see and want to do. A framework and language with which to communicate your intentions and desires with regards to a specific field to others.

When I hear others discussing mathematics or I try some my self or utilize statistics, other than the basics I'm left unable comprehend, not because I'm incapable of understanding what is being discussed, but because the words used MEAN absolutely NOTHING to me. I might as well be listening to the singing of birds or the barking of Dogs.

More and more I regret not continuing to study mathematics at university, a choice that was made not because I didn't enjoy and understand Math, but because there were too many things I found interesting. Which made a 12point paper impractical to fit into my schedule.

I don't suppose any one knows of any good resources for mathematics that start around Newtonian Algebra and build from there to cover more advanced and modern forms of mathematics, or provide a theoretical basis for stats? Any of the first year mathematics text's worth looking at as a way to reintroduce ones self to mathematics, any one got one lying around from uni they no longer want?

Windwos Vista + Macbook Air

2008-03-22T00:00:00.001+13:00

Macbook Air running Vista

Games

2008-03-21T18:22:00.005+13:00

Hmm just had a look at all the computer games I've bought over the last 11 years, a rather decent pile. Any way set them all out on the floor in roughly the order I bought them and decided might be cool (Geeky) to take a photo so here you are most of the games I've bought, It's not all the games I own though some are only electronic downloads and others game free on gaming magazine cd's.

Excuse the quick paint job on the background couldn't be bothered doing it any better.

Some of these games are rather amazing others are just average.

The Best Games by Genre:

FPS/RPG: (In order of preference)
Deus Ex (Best Game EVER)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R

FPS:
Knights of the Old Republic 2 (in the Starwars game pack)
Unreal Tournament original and 2004 (sure no story but fun none the less)
Deus Ex II (sucked compared to the first still reasonable though)
~~BIOSHOCK~~ (NOT! what are people on it's just a linear shooter with a somewhat better than average story?)

RPGs:
Baldur's Gate II + xpack (at up to 250hrs it's the longest game I own, 2nd best game)
Oblivion
NWN2 + xpack
Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2
Fallout 1 and 2 (though admittedly never managed to finish 2 yet)
NWN, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale 1 and 2

Strategy:
Age of Kings and Age of Empires + xpacks (by amount of time spent playing it)
Total Annihilation (it's still fun to play after 10 years)
Star Craft (Best RTS campaign)
Sins of a Solar Empire

SIMS:
Starlancer (But it's so insanely hard with out in mission saves)
Independence war II Edge of Chaos

Any way how many of these have you played? What do you think?

PC game Piracy

2008-03-13T21:11:00.002+13:00

A rather interesting post by the semi indie game studio Stardock about Piracy and PC games, about how it can be painful buts not the end of the world for game development. They've just published the rather popular game "Sins of a Solar Empire" a RTS 4x strategy game.

Google/Privacy :-)

2008-03-12T16:17:00.002+13:00

Hmm with regards to the previous post and google and privacy it's good to see that doing a search for my name provides very little useful information and no link to this blog or most of my other web related stuff.

How about the rest of you? Does searching for your real name drag up your blog, facebook/bebo, photos of you or other information your'd rather it didn't?

A quick update:

2008-03-12T16:01:00.004+13:00

Well I finally got back my results for my MSc (Biochemistry) ~8months after handing in the thesis, as expected I passed with average grades (which considering how things went is acceptable...). Which of course means I need to start putting serious effort into the annoying process of trying to find and apply for jobs. So far I've currently been keeping an eye on seek.co.nz and the newspaper (which never has anything of interest), does any one know of any other good sites or resources for looking for jobs especially those in the scientific field?

Also I'd welcome any tips or suggeststions on how to produce a decent cover letter and CV :-), seeing I find they're both a major pain to deal with.

Heh any way so after 6 years of study I can finally use: Aeonsim (no I'm not going to stick my real name on the blog, especially not when applying for jobs), BSc (Biochemistry), MSc (Biochemistry).

A New Biology for a New Century??

2008-03-12T01:56:00.003+13:00

A New Biology for a New Century
Carl R. Woese

Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Biology today is at a crossroads. The molecular paradigm, which so successfully guided the discipline throughout most of the 20th century, is no longer a reliable guide. Its vision of biology now realized, the molecular paradigm has run its course. Biology, therefore, has a choice to make, between the comfortable path of continuing to follow molecular biology's lead or the more invigorating one of seeking a new and inspiring vision of the living world, one that addresses the major problems in biology that 20th century biology, molecular biology, could not handle and, so, avoided. The former course, though highly productive, is certain to turn biology into an engineering discipline. The latter holds the promise of making biology an even more fundamental science, one that, along with physics, probes and defines the nature of reality. This is a choice between a biology that solely does society's bidding and a biology that is society's teacher.

The entire paper is available for free from here: A New Biology for a New Century

An interesting paper from a few years back arguing that the way we understand and study biology needs to change focus, shifting from a molecular focus and a reductionist view of organisms to a wider view (which the author does not actually define). Any way if this sort of thing interests you I'd suggest reading it, and I would be interested in your opinion.

EEE PC The future

2008-03-10T14:44:00.002+13:00

Well it looks like the EEE PC has some interesting changes coming up in the near future.
Bigger screen (1024x600), more storage (8GB, 12GB, 20GB), a change in CPU (Intel Atom), quick battery recharging, longer battery life (up to 8hours) etc

This could make things rather interesting, If they manage to get one out with 4+ hours battery, and an Atom CPU I think I'll be picking one up rather quickly!

For more info Eee PC to Get Intel’s Diamondville, Hard Drives, and Fashion Forward Style.

Aikido AKA "The Art of Becoming One with the Mat"

2008-03-04T16:01:00.004+13:00

Well a somewhat more serious post this time, as some people managed to workout or asked about the "Art of Becoming One with the Mat" is Aikidoa defensively focused Martial art. It relies more on using your opponent's attacks against them rather than attacking it's self. Seeing one of the ideas underlying it is that if they're not attacking you don't need to be fighting them.

As a result it's an art that tends towards flexibility rather raw strength. Anyway in addition to learning means to defend your self, it's a good way to get fit.

If your interested there are 3 Basic classes a week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, starting at 6pm and going through to ~7:15, where new comers are welcome. Once you learn how to fall properly there are general classes at a range of times including 6am-7:30am for the early birds.

Any way first Lesson is free, and after that it's usually 40 a month for which you can go to as many classes as you like (~20 running a week).

If you are interested in going along I'm going to all three basics classes at the moment (6pm Mon, Wed, Fri).

Any way if your interested in heading along let me know :-).
The dojo is on Clyde Rd, about a 15min bike ride from most peoples flats.

For more info have a look here Aikido Christchurch.

PS: they also do weapons training a few nights each week which is alot of fun!

PPS: Gals are welcome as well and make up ~30% of some classes, and hey Gals surely learning to throw Guys around the Mat is at least somewhat tempting :)

PPPS: The source of The Art of Becoming One with the Mat

Misperceptions meet state of the art in evolution research

2008-02-27T20:59:00.002+13:00

Misperceptions meet state of the art in evolution research

A short article covering some talks on the state of current Evolutionary theory from the recent American Association for the Advancement of Science conference.

Wedding Photographs up

2008-02-24T22:49:00.002+13:00

A number of photos from Mike and Kelly's wedding have been added to Speculum. As usual the blog is password protected so if you can't view it and think you should contact me or leave a comment and I'll add you.