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Climate, Work, and Politics
May. 26th, 2023 08:22 pmThis evening I completed a difficult short exam for "Physical Basis of Climate Change", just the final exam to go. I also received a grade today for the major essay for the same subject on "Earth's Climate System and Changes Since the Industrial Revolution"; given that I received 27/30 maybe I know something about this. Given that this is one of the more challenging subjects I have taken in my long and varied university career, I am understandably quite pleased with this result. The next few weeks will see final assessments in this and other subjects, and that will be trimester one complete for this degree.
There's been a couple of nice upticks at work today as well. This afternoon I hosted a researcher presentation for one Arshiya Sangchooli who gave a great talk about amygdala and information processing using Spartan and Mediaflux. Apart from speaking on a part of the brain that holds a particular interest to me, it is always great to see how very complex problems that require a lot of data are processed on our system to generate useful results. In addition, a survey of staff from the Cultural Working Group suggested that my work for the past two-plus years in this body has not been in vain, with very significant improvements across all previous metrics of concern. More work to be done, but it was a very pleasing result.
Tomorrow is the annual general meeting of the Isocracy Network, my favourite political organisation (it should be, I founded it). We're having a discussion on recent increases in rents, housing prices, interest rates and the like and why home affordability has become increasingly painful for many Australians. It is a subject that I've been grumpy about for some years but - rather like global warming - there are some powerful vested interests that get in the way of making life better for people. As a related political aside I must mention attending a Melbourne adieu for one Doone Clifton who is moving interstate. Doone is an old North Melbourne Labor Party comrade who I first met over twenty years ago, and her farewell really was quite a meeting of people of that locale and politics. It was also a lovely opportunity to see Rob and Angela L., there as well with follow-up drinks and conversation with these worthy souls.
There's been a couple of nice upticks at work today as well. This afternoon I hosted a researcher presentation for one Arshiya Sangchooli who gave a great talk about amygdala and information processing using Spartan and Mediaflux. Apart from speaking on a part of the brain that holds a particular interest to me, it is always great to see how very complex problems that require a lot of data are processed on our system to generate useful results. In addition, a survey of staff from the Cultural Working Group suggested that my work for the past two-plus years in this body has not been in vain, with very significant improvements across all previous metrics of concern. More work to be done, but it was a very pleasing result.
Tomorrow is the annual general meeting of the Isocracy Network, my favourite political organisation (it should be, I founded it). We're having a discussion on recent increases in rents, housing prices, interest rates and the like and why home affordability has become increasingly painful for many Australians. It is a subject that I've been grumpy about for some years but - rather like global warming - there are some powerful vested interests that get in the way of making life better for people. As a related political aside I must mention attending a Melbourne adieu for one Doone Clifton who is moving interstate. Doone is an old North Melbourne Labor Party comrade who I first met over twenty years ago, and her farewell really was quite a meeting of people of that locale and politics. It was also a lovely opportunity to see Rob and Angela L., there as well with follow-up drinks and conversation with these worthy souls.
