![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipA fruitful couple of weeks. The ISP I'm working for has increased my hours, which makes the sudden financial change in the last post more palatable. Six month review of "going alone" as a contracter indicates that business-wise all is fine. Income is slightly higher than expected and expenses much lower. Dark clouds on the horizon are clients who still owe money (dammit, my entire life is cursed by people who don't pay on time!) and the need for at least one more income stream to ensure that I come within expectations on the annual budget. So I'm doing some serious investigation into multimedia and games.
Latest issue of the SAGE-AU journal came out just after my last post with one article, a book review, and an interview by myself and a decent article by Alexander Zangerl of Bond University on teaching sysadmin skills. The review and article had been previously published in Red Friday and the interview was on a data recovery firm, which has done some pretty extraordinary work. On a related note, SAGE-AU has set up a piece of work by Brad Marshall on sysadmin resources. Very useful!
Last Sunday week at the Unitarians was Fred Neuman who, with an enormous list of qualifications, gave a very sensible and balanced approach to forest management that was firmly grounded in scientific considerations. He didn't really address the problem of reconciling science with commercial interests and that remains a weak point (and one, which due to politics, commerce will probably win). On a related note, everyone's been linking the Unitarian Jihad and of course the Unitarian Jihad name. Most appropriately, my Unitarian
Jihad Name is: Sister/Brother Katana of Patience. Get yours.
Brendon Nelson reckons Australia should go nuclear. Saw this one coming a mile off. After all, Australia does hold 1/3 of the world's uranium reserves, so big business can see big profits. There's a certain irony that in the same fortnight New Scientist reports that nuclear waste could provide a terror target. Meanwhile,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
greylock has alerted me to Indonesia's plan for twelve nuclear reactors.
Pope John Paul II and Andrea Dworkin died since my last update. On the Pope, whilst a person who constantly advocated peace, which is commendable, he also centralised the Church with reactionary doctrine which will be his damaging legacy. I often wonder how liberal Catholics cope in such an environment. As for Dworkin, well, she gathered useful empirical data and ruined it with atrocious theory - something which feminist critics of feminism often point out I've noted.
Key social events of the fortnight included dinner withgreg who has regrettably had to leave the fair shores of Australia after a brief visit and going to the Atherton Gardens public housing estate community fair with Brendan, Kerrie and friends, consuming lots of Timorese coffee and taking the opportunity to rejoin radio station3CR.
Erick Locke just resigned as State Secretary of the ALP (Victorian branch), on a matter of principle no less. I wish John Howard was a man of principle, after interest rates going up (a sort-of promise), after sending more troops to Iraq (a promise broken) and now Medicare subsidies cut (a promise broken), he is clearly a man with zero integrity. The cute animal story of the week is the discovery of dinosaur eggs in virto. Nike admits to abuses (guess all that protest action at Swanston and Bourke was
justified) and the BBC reckons there will be a cure for cancer in five years.
Melbourne weather is notorious, but this is just plain silly.
Brain breaker goes toevil_genius for referring me to Gay Black Jewish Klansman.
Latest issue of the SAGE-AU journal came out just after my last post with one article, a book review, and an interview by myself and a decent article by Alexander Zangerl of Bond University on teaching sysadmin skills. The review and article had been previously published in Red Friday and the interview was on a data recovery firm, which has done some pretty extraordinary work. On a related note, SAGE-AU has set up a piece of work by Brad Marshall on sysadmin resources. Very useful!
Last Sunday week at the Unitarians was Fred Neuman who, with an enormous list of qualifications, gave a very sensible and balanced approach to forest management that was firmly grounded in scientific considerations. He didn't really address the problem of reconciling science with commercial interests and that remains a weak point (and one, which due to politics, commerce will probably win). On a related note, everyone's been linking the Unitarian Jihad and of course the Unitarian Jihad name. Most appropriately, my Unitarian
Jihad Name is: Sister/Brother Katana of Patience. Get yours.
Brendon Nelson reckons Australia should go nuclear. Saw this one coming a mile off. After all, Australia does hold 1/3 of the world's uranium reserves, so big business can see big profits. There's a certain irony that in the same fortnight New Scientist reports that nuclear waste could provide a terror target. Meanwhile,
greylock has alerted me to Indonesia's plan for twelve nuclear reactors.Pope John Paul II and Andrea Dworkin died since my last update. On the Pope, whilst a person who constantly advocated peace, which is commendable, he also centralised the Church with reactionary doctrine which will be his damaging legacy. I often wonder how liberal Catholics cope in such an environment. As for Dworkin, well, she gathered useful empirical data and ruined it with atrocious theory - something which feminist critics of feminism often point out I've noted.
Key social events of the fortnight included dinner with
greg who has regrettably had to leave the fair shores of Australia after a brief visit and going to the Atherton Gardens public housing estate community fair with Brendan, Kerrie and friends, consuming lots of Timorese coffee and taking the opportunity to rejoin radio station3CR.Erick Locke just resigned as State Secretary of the ALP (Victorian branch), on a matter of principle no less. I wish John Howard was a man of principle, after interest rates going up (a sort-of promise), after sending more troops to Iraq (a promise broken) and now Medicare subsidies cut (a promise broken), he is clearly a man with zero integrity. The cute animal story of the week is the discovery of dinosaur eggs in virto. Nike admits to abuses (guess all that protest action at Swanston and Bourke was
justified) and the BBC reckons there will be a cure for cancer in five years.
Melbourne weather is notorious, but this is just plain silly.
Brain breaker goes to
evil_genius for referring me to Gay Black Jewish Klansman.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-04-18 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-18 08:12 pm (UTC)Yeah, I really like NatGeo. Although I started at a later age ;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-04-18 07:38 pm (UTC)At least, I'm with Peter Garrett in saying the debate needs to be seriously opened and the conservation movement can't just flatly reject it any more. Which doesn't mean building new reactors that use old designs in a tectonically unstable country is a good idea.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-18 07:53 pm (UTC)I'm always up for debate on any issue.
The key problem will remain how do we ensure that commercial interests integrate with scientific facts and public liability.
First thing would be to get the execs to play with this:
http://www.ida.liu.se/~her/npp/demo.html
no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 02:15 am (UTC)Dworkin's attempts at banning pornography are nothing short of thought policing. Pathetic when some one becomes so liberal they flip back over to the other end of the spectrum. Not to mention her penning an obscenity law and then coming out against it later *smacks forehead*. That woman was a walking contradiction.
I have to agree with Havana Marking "She set the womens movement back 20 years".
w00t! BRAINBREAKER(what ever that is?) In the hizzy baby!!!
no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 04:48 am (UTC)That woman was a walking contradiction.
Er, yes. I agree with you entirely. However, her own personal experiences possibly had something to do with her own mind being a wee bit out of sync.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Dworkin
What Dworkin could never understand is that her experience of a particular situation is not the same as everyone elses experience of the similar situations. She converted personal feelings into universal ones - which is ironically the same thing as perpetrators of the crimes against her did.
Because of her contradictions, she will leave no lasting impact. At the end of the day, it is rigorous and consistent theory for human liberation that leaves the greatest impact. Dworkin's solution - oppression of one freedom to promote the security of another - is a failed project.
The "Brainbreaker" is a little award I run for people on my friend's list that post something truly amusing between posts.
Which reminds me, I owe one for
no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 04:59 am (UTC)Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Benjamin Franklin
Failed but timeless. Such attitudes are forever respawning themself. They are rust on the scales of justice. A society can never be to vigilant in removing/striking down/exposing as false such things.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 05:27 am (UTC)Hmmm... I was sure that was Thomas Jefferson's quote.
BTW, you know that both Jefferson and Franklin were part of the Unitarian Jihad of their time ;-)
True story!
http://www.famousuus.com/bios/thomas_jefferson.htm
http://www.famousuus.com/bios/benjamin_franklin.htm
A society can never be to vigilant in removing/striking down/exposing as false such things.
The problem with moral reasoning is that the message has to be put, once again, every generation, whereas technology just keeps marching on.
no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 12:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-19 04:30 pm (UTC)Designer and programmer. I have a pretty good grasp of C++ and strangely enough, particularly for games.
(Big secret: it's surprisingly easy)
no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 12:16 am (UTC)See, I have a friend who lives in Melbs (you still live there, right?) He's a graphic designer who wants to get into game design... Did you need any help of that sort?
no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 12:53 am (UTC)That's OK. Done it a few times myself ;-)
no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 12:55 am (UTC)Sure, sounds like fun. I actually have a few projects and people on the boil on this topic.
Mind you, although game design and game programming isn't that hard per se, it eats time like you wouldn't believe. And if you're working indie, it takes ages before you see a return.
Anyway, get them to send me an email on lev _ lafayette AT speedymail DOT org
no subject
Date: 2005-04-20 11:51 am (UTC)