Wattstax, Academia, Computing

[tcpip]

Last thursday night went to ACMI with a_carnal_mink and caseopaya to see Wattstax. Prior to the film spent some time in the ACMI Gaming Lab and played some Castle Crashers, and visited Chloe's Bar (doc file). The film itself included Rev. Jesse Jackson's famous "I am Somebody" speech and hilarious commentary by Richard Pryor with music from numerous gospel, blues, soul, and funk performers including the deep beauty of Isaac Hayes (aka Chef from South Park), the humour of Rufus Thomas, and the glam of the Bar Kays (YouTube video from the film). A very enjoyable evening to say the the least.

I have started an online version of the course at the University of Texas on Marxian Economics, which looks reasonably comprehensive judging by the course notes and have contributed significantly to the initial discussions, including a paper on qualitative transformations due to quantitative change (even if the course coordinator thinks I'm from Melbourne, Florida). On a somewhat related topic, I do take the opportunity to express annoyance that the political right always seems to claim the ground of being the better economic managers. Yet, "the last three months of the Howard government produced the worst three months of trade deficits in Australia's history." This is not an isolated incident. In a U.S. context, as a proportion of GDP, gross federal debt is almost entirely the responsibility of Reagan, Bush and Bush Jnr, and similar comments can be made about the national debt.

In computer-related VPAC news, I am pleased to announce the succesful HPC installation of the egs in the hen house which can now beam. If you're confused by that it means that EGSnrc, a Monte Carlo simulation of coupled electron-photon transport, has been installed on Tango, along with its close friend and ally in radiation source simulation, BEAMnrc. Next is CCP4 Phaser ("these are the voyages..."). I should also make at least passing reference that a certain computing company, famous for their search engine, contacted me last week with the view of possible employment. I'd dearly like to keep a foot in that door, but I rather feel quite a lot of loyalty to VPAC.

Comments

[loom.livejournal.com]

Honestly, it isn't me-tooism.

That company contacted me in early 2006, and as much as I'd like to work for them, at that time, I was told in no uncertain terms that I would have to move to Sydney. Surprising that they of all people didn't provide oppurtunities for tele-comuting.

Please tell me that they have either decided to open a Melbourne office, or that they have relaxed their rules somewhat.

And good luck.

[a-carnal-mink.livejournal.com]

Unrelated, this, but doooooood! Top Gear is looking for Australians for the show. SBS have been advertising the casting call. Go for it. ;)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Seconded :-)

[loom.livejournal.com]

Errm.

Thanks for the amazing compliment....

Consider it under consideration.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Heh. I doubt this was even an offer for Sydney.

I suspect they like to keep their people (physically) in-house.

Like a cult or something ;-)

(Not that it would be a particularly bad cult)..

[loom.livejournal.com]

I would quite happily join that cult :)

I'm also happy to work in an office, I have for years.

I just have an objection to relocating to Sydney.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I can't say I'm overly fond of Sydney. There are a couple of nice inner urbs, like Balmain. I guess the far south and far north can't be too bad either and there's something akin to a public transport system which is probably better that the goatse work that Connex has done with ours.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

You too, eh? I have to get around to replying to a similar offer myself, though from the European branch.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

European branch would be very interesting, indeed...

My manager half-jokingly suggested they must go through our systems staff list periodically.

[neonchameleon.livejournal.com]

I do take the opportunity to express annoyance that the political right always seems to claim the ground of being the better economic managers.

I don't understand this one either. But it seems to be pretty consistent.

[amazinggoatgirl.livejournal.com]

Well, that´s all they think they´ve got to offer if you´re not religious or racist.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Have you ever considered a career as a political commentator? You're ability to make a short, accurate and hilarious comment is extremely good.

Thank ye.

[amazinggoatgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, you and your flattery. Seriously, though, I´d either kill myself on purpose or die by vomit-induced asphyxiation, so I don´t think that´s really in the cards.

Re: Thank ye.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

.. and I could fix my spelling. "You're" instead of "your".. *sheesh*

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I suspect it may come from the late 19th transformation of political-economy to mere economics, partially inspired by the marginal revolution. Whereas the former concerned itself with normative debates over the moral question of ownership, the latter stripped this concerns away, dealing with quantitative results only.

[lindsay40k.livejournal.com]

"Look, my small business hasn't (yet) been devoured by a giant corporate conglomerate, ergo Marx was wrong."

[tau-iota-mu-c.livejournal.com]

Heh. Bill at google wants to know if I am interested in engineering activities. I did a search for that email address on his employer's website, and it didn't seem to come from anywhere, which means he made up a sane email address from my domain - and the domain mostly appears in debian bug reports.

[tzunder.livejournal.com]

Wha? Too many TLAs and jargon, man!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

For the one's that aren't referenced...

HPC = High Performance Computing
VPAC = Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing

I bet you already know what GDP is ;-)