Lev Lafayette's journal

Spent three days off work last week feeling more than a little under the weather; mostly OK now. Prior to that managed to get an ab-initio simulation package installed on the main cluster; it wasn't easy and there are still MPI bugs to iron out. In my time off I did put up some more Bahasa Indonesian lessons; two, three, and four. Also spent a bit of time playing Solar Wolf; best personal score is now close to that of the designer's. SW is, imo, particularly interesting for developing heuristic solutions to shortest path problems. Or at least that's what I thought whilst dosed up on Demazin, Mersyndol etc etc.

I also took some time to do some more editing on Rolemaster Cyradon; a final draft is due on May 1st and thankfully it is pretty much finished. Managed to squeeze in a game D&D/Pathfinder Fantasy Australia and, on Sunday, ran part two of the famous "Cradle" scenario in the RuneQuest game in which the PCs engaged in some thoroughly heroic actions to protect the giant baby. Took the opportunity to name all the forty or so NPCs siding with the defenders; surprised in both this and the preceding session on how smoothly the RQ combat system operates with such large numbers of participants as well.

Next week will be busy; speaking next Sunday at the Unitarian Philosophy Forum on "The Philosophy of Economics Part I: Normative Economics or, Who Gets What and Why" (will be followed up with Part II: "Positive Economics, or, What Works And What Doesn't"). Preparing another article on LeftFocus on "Labor's Georgist Tradition" for later this week and speaking at the St Kilda branch of the ALP next week on the global financial crisis. Writing a new article for Isocracy on "Nationalism and Internationalism" Express your thoughts on the Melbourne's public transport system and potential solutions here.

First of two articles I've written for Left Focus has just been published: Political Economy and the Economic Crisis. Part two will be published in the next few days. On a related note, had a good meeting yesterday with Paul K. of George Finance to discuss the land rent scheme proposed by the Stanhope government in the ACT. As good as this scheme would be for low-income earners and the economy in general (expenditure in land ownership always means expenditure away from productive activity) banks have been loathe to support the idea. On a more personal note, have received initial approval from the ANZ New Zealand for my planned purchases down there.

On the other travelling plan I've spent some time bringing my almost non-existant knowledge of Bahasa Indonesian up to an acceptable level. Working very hard to complete my Cert IV in Training and Assessment this week and have received confirmation that I can use this as a credit towards a Graduate Diploma in Education (Tertiary and Adult) (goodness, I'll be a bona fide Murdoch student again).

Last Sunday attened the poetry and music service at the Unitarians. Music in this case included Johnny Cash's "Man in Black" (Youtube) which I was very pleased with. My role was provide a reading about Unitarianism, to which I chose the activity of the Christchurch fellowship witht their All Heretic's Day forums which I think Melbourne should emulate. For poetry I chose a compilation from a thousand years ago - Al Ma'arri - a person who certainly deserves more recognition.

Have made some headway in the second draft of Rolemaster Cyradon which is due at the end of this month. Played GURPS Bunnies & Burrows on Sunday, as is the longstanding Easter tradition; Michael ran a good scenario entitled "Hart of Darkness" (haha). Visited severina_242 and _zombiemonkey over the weekend for an evening of bad Australian horror films; though that Thirst and Harlequin were OK psycho-thrillers. In contrast The Howling III was one of the worst films I have ever seen.